Decarbonizing primary steel production is essential for steel producers to achieve their climate goals. The cost-effectiveness of different decarbonization pathways varies with regional energy and input prices, operational choices, technology designs, and incentives to decarbonize. The Decarbonizing Steelmaking TechnoEconomic EvaLuation (decarbSTEEL) tool was developed to support industry and policymakers in navigating these trade-offs. decarbSTEEL is an open-source, transparent and highly customizable framework for assessing the cost and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions impacts of various steel decarbonization strategies. The model evaluates seven major steel production pathways — blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF), BF-BOF with carbon capture and sequestration (BF(CCS)-BOF), scrap-based electric arc furnace (Scrap-EAF), natural gas•based direct reduced iron with EAF steelmaking (NG-DRI-EAF), NG-DRI-EAF with CCS (NG-DRI(CCS)-EAF), hydrogen-based DRI-EAF (H2-DRI-EAF), and a reductant-flexible DRI-EAF (Flex-DRI-EAF) — and calculates the variable cost, production cost of steel and CO2 emissions intensity for each pathway. Users can explore how design decisions, such as hydrogen preheating methods, hydrogen and electricity sourcing, and DRI plant configurations, impact costs and emissions under different scenarios. As an interactive, adaptable and transparent tool, decarbSTEEL supports detailed analyses of different decarbonization pathways, helping stakeholders select cost-effective technology configurations to reduce CO2 emissions.
Cite This Article: Elina S. Hoffmann, Valerie J. Karplus, P. Chris Pistorius, "An Open-Source Framework for Evaluating the Cost and Greenhouse Gas Emission Impacts of Design Decisions in Hydrogen Direct Reduced Iron Production," AIST Transactions, Iron & Steel Technology, February 2026, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 196-211. DOI 10.33313/TR/0226.
2026 AIST Transactions, February