The Steel Drivin' Men from Woburn, Mass.

When I was a school kid, a lot of what we learned in history and geography centered on who invented what, what was produced (manufactured or grown) where, and how (sort of) things were made.

We proudly learned that Massachusetts' very own Elias Howe (born just up the road from Worcester, in Spencer) invented the sewing machine, and that Massachusetts' very own Eli Whitney (born just down the road from Worcester, in Westborough) invented the cotton gin.

We learned that Chicago was the hog butcher of the world. That Detroit was The Car City. That Youngstown was The Tire City. And that Pittsburgh was The Steel City. 

Steel, we learned, made not just Pittsburgh great, but made our country great. All those blast furnaces, blasting away 24/7!

We are no longer the leading steel producing nation. In 2021, China, India, and Japan ranked ahead of us. But we still produce a ton. (Actually, 86 million tons in 2021.) And steel production, not surprisingly, isn't all that great for the environment.

Every ton of new steel manufactured spits out two tons of carbon dioxide into the environment.

...making steel accounts for about 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the World Steel Association.  (Source: Boston Globe)

Those emissions are thanks in large part of the coal that fuels the industry. 

So there are a number of companies looking into how they can swap coal use out for something more environmentally friendly. One such company is Massachusetts' very own Boston Metal, a Woburn-based startup dedicated to finding a sustainable way to produce iron. (Note: Woburn was once one of the largest leather-producing towns in New England. Their high school athletic teams are called the Tanners, and their mascot is a snorting bull. Leather gotta come from somewhere.)

The startup, Boston Metal, wants to help the steel industry reduce its dependence on burning coal-based fuel and use electricity instead — ideally sustainably produced electricity from sources such as hydropower or solar. Many of the world’s steelmakers, points out Boston Metal chief executive Tadeu Carneiro, “have made pledges to be carbon neutral by 2050, and they still don’t have the solutions to get there.” His company wants to be one of those solutions. 

Why focus on iron? Because it's a "key ingredient" of steel. And its making is a big culprit when it comes to noxious emissions.  

In traditional steel manufacturing, a special form of coal is used to fuel a reaction that turns iron ore, an oxide, into pure iron. Then you can add elements like chromium to the molten iron to make stainless steel, or manganese to make structural steel, explains Adam Rauwerdink, a senior vice president at Boston Metal. But the iron production stage “is where the overwhelming majority of the emissions come from,” he says. 

Boston Metal has a lot going for it. Its founders are MIT professors and a grad with a PhD in metallurgy. And its backers include an investment firm associated with Fidelity; BMW's venture wing; and a fund started by Bill Gates. So, smart money backing smart guys.

There are a number of other companies focused on this issue, but I wouldn't bet against the Steel Drivin' Men from Woburn, Massachusetts.

Go, Tanners! Maybe Woburn will end up changing their team name to The Environmentalists!