Biography

U. S. Steel is always looking for ways to advance the science of steelmaking — including ways to make the process more sustainable. We’ve made significant strides, thanks largely to metallurgical scientist Yun Li, a Senior Research Consultant with our company. In his 23 years with U. S. Steel, Yun has helped us innovate steelmaking on several fronts. “The steel industry is an old one, but there are always new challenges for us to solve,” he says.


One focus for Yun has been optimizing the raw materials used in steelmaking, which not only reduces costs and improves productivity, but also lowers energy consumption and emissions associated with the process. For example, Yun has helped the company find ways to reduce the amount of lime used in producing a given amount of steel. This enables cutting back on the carbon-intensive process of producing lime, results in less slag, and requires less energy in electric arc furnaces — all while lowering the cost of the process.


Other efforts that Yun has helped advance include increasing the recycling of slag and dust generated in steelmaking, and optimizing the temperature of liquid steel at each stage of the process to reduce overall energy consumption. Currently Yun is working to find better ways to bring more hydrogen-based and other green-energy processes into steelmaking.


While he remains a scientific researcher at heart, Yun emphasizes that he appreciates seeing his work have real-world impact at U. S. Steel. “It’s very rewarding to see something I helped figure out find its way from an idea on the whiteboard to an improvement on the factory floor,” he says.