New HPC4Mfg solicitation to focus on steelmaking and aluminum production

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) today announced its intention to issue a special High Performance Computing for Manufacturing Program (HPC4Mfg) solicitation focused on steelmaking and aluminum production.

Up to $1.2 million in federal funds will be available to support as many as four new awards to companies in primary and secondary steelmaking and aluminum production processes to help them become more competitive by solving key manufacturing challenges, boosting productivity and supporting American manufacturing jobs. LLNL plans to issue the solicitation in early August.

This solicitation marks the sixth round of awards for the HPC4Mfg Program, which is managed by LLNL, in partnership with other national laboratories, and funded by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Since 2015, the program has leveraged the national laboratories’ supercomputing capabilities, high-end modeling and simulation software and expertise to support nearly 40 U.S. manufacturing companies.

Nearly $3 million has been awarded through the HPC4Mfg Program for seven projects in the U.S. steel and aluminum industries, the flagship project being a physics-based model of a blast furnace for ironmaking, which has shed new light on previously hidden details of highly complex heat flow and chemical reactions deep in their cores.

Project durations are for up to one year. Awards of up to $300,000 will be given to selected projects to support compute cycles and work performed by the national lab partners. Industry partners must provide participant contributions of at least 20 percent of the DOE funding for the project. All DOE national laboratories are eligible to participate in this program.

Eligibility is limited to U.S. aluminum and steel manufacturers and organizations that support them. Visit the HPC4Mfg website for further information.