THE PROPOSED DESIGN AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECT WILL EXPLOIT THE ENGINEERING CAPABILITIES, TECHNICAL AND MARKET KNOWLEDGE OF THE TEAM TO ADVANCE THE HDR AND HYBRID-HDR SYSTEMS, DEVELOPED DURING THE U.S. DOE EERE HYSTEEL PROJECT (DE-EE0009249), FROM TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL (TRL) 4 (I.E., COMPONENT AND/OR BREADBOARD VALIDATION IN A LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT) TO TRL 6 (SYSTEM/SUBSYSTEM MODEL OR PROTOTYPE DEMONSTRATION IN A RELEVANT ENVIRONMENT). THE GOAL IS TO INSTALL AND DEMONSTRATE THE OPERATION FOR AT LEAST 3600 HR OF A 250 KWELSOLID OXIDE ELECTROLYZER CELL (SOEC) SYSTEM ABLE TO PERFORM STEAM AND CO-ELECTROLYSIS OPERATION BY EXPLOITING THE THERMAL AND CHEMICAL INTEGRATION WITH THE TOP GAS STREAM OF AN EXISTING 1.6 MILLION TONS PER YEAR DIRECT REDUCTION OF IRON (DRI) FACILITY IN TOLEDO, OH. WE PLAN TO DEMONSTRATE THE PERFORMANCE METRICS THAT WE SUCCESSFULLY ACHIEVED IN THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSES AND IN SOEC CELL AND STACK MEASUREMENT CAMPAIGNS IN A RELEVANT ENVIRONMENT. MOREOVER, WE WILL TACKLE THE MAIN CHALLENGES THAT OUR CURRENT INDUSTRIAL ADVISORY BOARD CONSIDERS AS THE BIGGEST HURDLES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS TECHNOLOGY AT A COMMERCIAL SCALE, NAMELY THE HOT GAS CLEANUP SYSTEM, AND THE CONTROL OF THE SYNGAS PRODUCT QUALITY IN THE REDUCING GAS STREAM. THIS PROJECT AIMS AT ELIMINATING THE BIGGEST BARRIERS FOR THE SCALEUP OF SOEC STEAM AND CO-ELECTROLYSIS APPLIED TO DRI PLANTS.