Miguel Olivas-Martinez, Phd Email and Phone Number

Department of Chemical Engineering and Matallurgy

Conducted activities that supported operation and improvement of U. S. Steel’s ironmaking facilities:►Performed process modeling through M&E balances for optimizing manufacturing costs.►Developed processes models for process control improvement and operational stability.►Provided onsite technical support to the U. S. Steel’s ironmaking facilities through troubleshooting, data collection, and problem solving based on root cause analysis and related methodologies.►Proactively supported U. S. Steel’s core values in safety and environmental stewardship.

Lead Research Engineer of a R&D project aimed at developing a green, new alternative ironmaking technology that would reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in the steel industry.►Generated process design specifications for and oversaw installation of a large-scale bench reactor for scale-up testing.►Developed CFD models incorporating oxy-fuel combustion of natural gas.►Conducted energy flow analysis for ironmaking processes. Established method for presenting and comparing energy requirements for different processes.►Led and conducted scale-up testing using a large-scale laboratory shaft furnace featuring an oxy-fuel nonpremixed burner. Determined conditions that yield a reduced iron product with high metallization.

Researched a green, new alternative ironmaking technology:►Developed design specifications for a new bench reactor, based on material and energy balances, themochemistry and reaction engineering. Participated in hazard and operability (HAZOP) studies.►Developed CFD model including oxy-fuel combustion of hydrogen. Designed (with Senior Research Engineer) an oxy-fuel nonpremixed burner through thermochemical calculations and CFD iterations.►Researched scale-up feasibility of alternative ironmaking in a large-scale laboratory shaft furnace. Test results yielded successful operation of an oxy-fuel burner and satisfactory metallization.►Retrofitted and commissioned large laboratory-scale shaft furnace for scale-up testing. As a result, improved safety aspect and streamlined operation by reducing total experimental time by 25 %.Developed CFD models for nanopowder production by vapor-phase processes:►Researched the vapor-phase synthesis of silica, tungsten carbide and aluminum nanopowders.►Devised modeling approach based on thermochemistry and population balance to describe the nucleation and growth of inorganic nanoparticles from volatile precursors.

Researched a hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) process to produce diamond films:►Formulated CFD model incorporating thermochemical and kinetic aspects.►Operated lab-scale hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. Generated data for model validation. In particular, grew diamond films and determined growth rate by cross-sectional analysis through scanning electron microscopy (SEM).