The final stages were made possible through the Ultra-Low Carbon Dioxide Steelmaking (ULCOS)[7] consortium and cooperation between former Corus (now Tata Steel) and the Rio Tinto Group.

[12] The very first attempts at applying cyclone oven technology in the reduction of iron ore took place at Koninklijke Hoogovens in the 1960s.

Heavy environmental restrictions made it unattractive to build new facilities, so steel producers sought ways to reduce the need for cokes; Hoogovens started putting more effort into the cyclone technology as a solution to this problem and a test facility for the cyclone part proved capable of producing twenty tons of pig iron per hour.

A theoretical answer was found to the earlier problems of the post-cyclone part of the cyclone furnace in the form of a Smelting Reduction Vessel and the Rio Tinto Group had industrial-scale experience with the required process, called HIsmelt.

It is a combination of a Cyclone Converter Furnace (CCF)[20] which is placed above the Smelting Reduction Vessel (SRV), forming a continuous, once through process.

Here the droplets fall from the wall into the molten slag, which sits on top of the liquid iron bath in the bottom of the furnace.

Both layers can be tapped individually and the pig iron can be used immediately in the remainder of the basic oxygen steelmaking process.

By comparison, in HIsarna, the powder form of the coal and ore are an advantage because the increased surface area improves the speed and quality of the reduction reaction in the cyclone.

The HIsarna process uses 20% less energy and emits at least 20% less CO2 per ton steel compared to conventional pig iron production.

[22] CO2 emission reductions of more than 50% can be achieved by replacing part of the coal for sustainable biomass and using steel scrap in the process.

[23] Tata Steel is also planning to develop the process in such a way that zinc can be recovered,[24] supported by the EIT RawMaterials, and CO2 can be captured for utilisation or storage.