Imperial hosts Tata Steel to explore new technologies for green steelmaking

University-based innovation is at the heart of international steel producer Tata Steel’s sustainability strategy.

The India-based company has committed to extending their partnerships with UK universities and research institutes, primarily based out of Imperial College London and the Henry Royce Institute, as confirmed at the first annual update of the Tata Steel-Imperial Centre for Sustainable Design and Manufacturing.

Areas of work that Tata Steel will be exploring includes innovations in Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) process technologies, the creation of market opportunities for ‘scrap intensive’ steel products, and progression of recycling technologies, which it identifies as crucial for UK industry to embrace the circular and green economy.

A problem shared is a problem halved

To drive the research required, Tata Steel is engaging with renowned academics from leading UK higher education institutes and research technology organisations – with experts from Imperial and the Henry Royce Institute joined by specialists from the University of Cambridge, Warwick Manufacturing Group Catapult, the University of Warwick, and Swansea University.

The first meeting with all the partners was held at Imperial in March 2025, convened by Subodh Pandey, Vice President RD&T, New Materials Business and Graphene, which was chaired by Professor Howard Stone, Tata Steel Chair Professor from the University of Cambridge.

Emerging threats and opportunities to the steel industry

The meeting focused on Tata Steel’s strategic technology development roadmap and key research directions for transforming Tata Steel into a world-leading centre in green steelmaking.  

Green steelmaking and the associated product development will rely heavily on leveraging the technical expertise and experience of our UK academia partners Subodh Pandey Vice President RD&T, New Materials Business and Graphene, Tata Steel

The partners defined initiatives for new research cooperation that would underpin the new state-of-the-art EAFs and upgrades to Tata Steel’s Port Talbot site. These initiatives are seeking to directly address the needs of the new Steel Strategy, to be published by the UK Steel Council, for revitalising the UK Steel industry and promoting economic growth. 

Mr Pandey said: “Green steelmaking and the associated product development will rely heavily on leveraging the technical expertise and experience of our UK academia partners. This meeting is the first of its kind to bring relevant academic stakeholders on a single platform and communicate our needs, expectations and aspirations.”

Dan Balint, Professor in Solid Mechanics of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial and Director of the Tata Steel-Imperial Centre for Innovation in Sustainable Design and Manufacturing, added: “This is a truly groundbreaking initiative, for the first time bringing together leading academics in the UK to work with Tata Steel for a unified purpose for the benefit of UK steelmaking, the environment, and the prosperity of the UK.

This is a truly groundbreaking initiative, for the first time bringing together leading academics in the UK to work with Tata Steel for a unified purpose for the benefit of UK steelmaking, the environment, and the prosperity of the UK. Professor Dan Balint Professor in Solid Mechanics

“Our shared vision is to research the underpinning science of green steelmaking, understanding how residual elements from recycled scrap affect the material microstructure, and in turn its formability, weldability, and mechanical performance for automotive and packaging applications.”

The partners are now actively working to define and prioritise the critical research required to support the transition to EAF processing and engage with supporting organisations to ensure that technologies needed are available in time for EAF commissioning.

Innovation in action from Imperial

With over 100 years of working with industry partners through innovative research and development in fields such as materials science and manufacturing, Imperial is continuing to shape the future of this field through academic-led spinouts and student-founded startups including:

MonolithAI: Putting bespoke AI to the test in order to accelerate product design and validation, already being used widely in component manufacture to identify possible areas of failure and build better solutions.

Deep.Meta: Applying AI to reduce the environmental impact of steelmaking through more efficient production practice.  

Polaron: The inaugural Manchester Prize winners Polaron are developing an AI solution to materials science to speed up the creation of new potential materials that could revolutionise a range of sectors and industries.

Imperial Global India

The announcement comes the same week as Imperial launches its new India hub in Bengaluru.

Imperial Global India aims to strengthen and expand the university's research, education and innovation programmes with Indian partners and co-create solutions to shared challenges in areas such as health, climate and emerging technologies.