Limelight Steel produces zero-emissions steel while using 40 percent less energy than any other technology. Its mission is to eliminate fossil fuels from steelmaking, which currently contributes over 7 percent of global CO₂ emissions, by providing clean industrial heat specifically tuned for iron ore.

 
 
 

FELLOWS

 

Olivia Dippo

In 2021, Olivia Dippo earned her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from UC San Diego, where she developed a new method for finding metal alloys optimized for 3D-printing, and invented new nitride and carbonitride ceramics with tunable optical and mechanical properties. Her expertise harnessing metallurgy, 3D printing, and materials' interactions with light inspires much of the technology that Limelight Steel, where she is co-founder and CEO, is developing.

 
 

Andy Zhao

Andy Zhao loves learning how things are made, how they shaped history, and how to make them better. At Stanford, he dove into materials science with a focus on semiconductors and clean energy. During his Ph.D. at UC San Diego, Zhao developed accurate measurements and models for high-temperature energy transport for future solar thermal and nuclear energy plants. At Limelight Steel, he is pouring everything he has into removing fossil fuels from steelmaking.

 

TECHNOLOGY

 

Critical Need
Coal-burning furnaces convert iron ore into pig iron using 2500 year-old technology which has scaled to build our ships and railroads, our bridges and skyscrapers, and countless other steel products in our daily lives. But the iron and steel industry contributes 7 to 9 percent of global CO₂ emissions. Its fossil-fueled furnaces have also had negative health consequences on the communities that have produced our modern world: 40 percent increase in lung cancer rates for residents of steel towns, and 500 percent increase for steelworkers. As steel demand increases across the world, revolutionary steelmaking technologies are needed to build a brighter future.

Technology Vision
Limelight Steel’s laser furnace technology reimagines how iron ore is converted into iron and steel. Rather than burning coal to smelt iron ore, light energy can be tuned to efficiently and rapidly heat iron-oxide, similar to how microwaves are tuned to quickly heat water. Using its optimized light energy as a heat source enables Limelight to use about 40 percent less energy than other steelmaking techniques—reducing the cost to sustainably convert iron ore into iron and steel.

Potential for Impact
Limelight furnaces will electrify the steel industry, producing clean and abundant steel that will flow into future bridges, buildings, and automobiles, as well as burgeoning technologies like metal 3D printing. Clean steel is critical to build a future in which industrial emissions are slashed, and the most disastrous effects of climate change are avoided.