Georgia Tech, China partnership wins $1M to improve sustainability of China’s steel industry

A group of Georgia Tech researchers led by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering's John Crittenden has won a four-year grant to improve the environmental sustainability of the Chinese steel industry.

The team will partner with researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China’s Northeastern University on the project. The million-dollar study is funded jointly by the National Science Foundation and the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China.

More on the project from Brent Verrill at Tech’s Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems:

China is by far the largest producer of crude steel, producing more than half of the global supply. Such enormous production levels are driven by both domestic and foreign demand. Steel production has significant environmental impacts, accounting for 6.7% of the total world CO2 emissions, and considerable use of, and toxic discharge to fresh water sources. In comparison, due to efficiency measures undertaken in the past 3 decades, U.S. metal production is two thirds less energy intensive compared to that of Chinese industries. The team will have cutting-edge access to the Chinese steel industry as well as eco-industrial parks, in which China is leading the world.