GoKawiilHertha Metals unveils single-step furnace to cut steelmaking emissions and costs
Hertha Metals founder Laureen Meroueh has developed a new furnace design that converts iron ore directly into refined liquid steel in one step, replacing coal with natural gas. The company says this approach can cut carbon emissions by at least half and reduce production costs by 25% compared with conventional steelmaking.
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Steelmaking accounts for roughly 7% of global carbon emissions, yet the industry's thin margins and long-lived furnaces have made decarbonization notoriously hard to finance. A method that lowers both emissions and costs simultaneously—rather than trading one for the other—could remove the biggest barrier to adoption and offer a practical bridge before fully zero-carbon systems exist.
- Hertha Metals' furnace merges ore-to-steel conversion into a single step using natural gas instead of coal.
- The design claims over 50% emissions reduction and 25% lower costs versus traditional methods.
- Experts note that even modest efficiency gains matter given how massive and energy-intensive existing steel plants are.
Source: technologyreview.com — Bridget Reed Morawski, 2026-09-08
Published there as: “This founder is making cheaper, cleaner steel”
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