Conroe-based Hertha Metals revolutionizes future of domestic steel production

MEDIA RELEASE
Contact: Adam Winkler (832-388-3302)

CONROE, Texas (August 19, 2025) – Mere months after the start-up company moved into its Conroe headquarters, Hertha Metals has successfully demonstrated an ability to produce both iron and steel in a significantly more cost effective and energy efficient manner – a process proven to be superior for the environment and community health.

“Being able to actually show the world what we’ve achieved at Hertha Metals is one of the best feelings from coming out of stealth, because the team has been so hard at work and deserves this recognition,” Hertha Metals founder and CEO Dr. Laureen Meroueh, who opened the company’s Conroe headquarters in 2023, admitted about Hertha’s recently announced technology breakthrough in its single-step steelmaking process. The company revealed it has been continuously producing one metric ton per day of steel since September 2024 and doing so by using a variety of feedstock - including waste oxide fines, low grade iron ore, natural gas and hydrogen. “We are demonstrating an iron and steel making process that better leverages our domestic resources to be more self-sufficient,” Meroueh noted.

Because of its exceptional strength and toughness, steel is the most widely used metal in the world and a fundamental component of our vehicles, bridges and buildings. However, in addition to being hard – it’s also hard to make, which has led to a decades-long trend of the United States importing 25 percent of our country’s finished steel. Dr. Meroueh says Hertha Metals’ transcendent innovation will redefine the American-born steelmaking process.

“As a country, we’ve really declined in our ability to manufacture the hard things ourselves,” Meroueh asserted. “We offshore so many of the hard things, but the hard things are the backbone to our country. We can take back the reins of the domestic virgin steel production that we used to be so good at.”

Conventional iron and steel manufacturing, a method responsible for nearly three-quarters of the world’s steel production, is not only financially pricey - but it is costly to the environment as well. According to Dr. Meroueh, the coal-based, multi-step process contributes up to 10 percent of global emissions. Alternatively, Hertha’s non-traditional system powered by affordable and abundant domestic natural gas slashes emissions during steelmaking by at least 50 percent. When functioning on hydrogen, Hertha’s single-step process would enable up to 99 percent emissions reductions.

“When a traditional steel mill is built, it often relies on a massive, capital-intensive blast furnace that comes with significant emissions and community concerns,” Meroueh explained. “Hertha Metals is changing that. We are developing steelmaking technology you would be proud to have in your backyard, technology that produces the critical materials we all rely on, while safeguarding the health and well-being of the community.”

Dr. Meroueh salutes the community and the backyard surrounding Hertha’s Conroe facility – ground zero for the company’s business development and research teams, analytical laboratory and pilot plant. “There are so many pieces specific to Conroe that have really allowed us to achieve what we set out to achieve in a short time frame,” Meroueh said of her company’s collaboration with the greater Conroe area. “We’ve received support from the Conroe Economic Development Council (CEDC) and local communities where we hire a lot of our operators. Companies like Entergy have been coordinated and receptive while rallying around us. Stracoa, our locally based construction company, did a great job keeping up with our pace as a start-up.”

Early in 2026, Hertha is targeting a new facility at which it will be capable of producing 9,000 metric tons per year of high-purity iron and steel. High-purity iron is critical to the manufacturing of rare earth magnets – which are used for national security, smartphones and medical devices. Hertha would become the first U.S. producer of high-purity iron for the magnets industry, as 90 percent of rare earth magnets are currently produced in China. If Texas can match other states’ incentive programs, Dr. Meroueh says she’s hoping to expand operations where Hertha started: Conroe, Texas.  

“We would absolutely love to build our new plant, one that will serve a critical industry to this country, in Texas – specifically in Conroe,” Meroueh revealed. “But right now, the difference between Texas and some other states are the incentives that exist for us to build here. Texas, and especially Conroe, has been collaborative with Hertha, so we hope we can improve and enhance the incentive process.”

Shortly after the initial interview for this story, Conroe proved its collaborative spirit once more. An operations setback, one which could have temporarily idled plant operations, was quelled with prompt emergency repairs – the result of several phone calls to Conroe elected leaders and city administrators. 

“The City of Conroe, Entergy and Elijah Services Electrical were incredibly responsive,” Meroueh noted. “This kind of public and private cooperation does not happen everywhere. It was a clear sign how Conroe supports businesses trying to grow and succeed.”

By revamping the American-made steel process at its facility in Conroe, Hertha Metals has fortified a more affordable, efficient and sustainable future. Dr. Meroueh and her team are currently planning an open-door community event at Hertha’s pilot plant – a gathering that will happen sometime in 2025. She hopes Hertha Metals will also have doors to another, more abundant local facility to open to the Conroe community further down the line. 

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About the Conroe Economic Development Council    

The mission of the Conroe Economic Development Council is to enhance the strength and stability of the greater Conroe economy through the support of existing industry and the attraction of manufacturing and service sector business, which bring new capital and employment opportunities into the community.

About Hertha Metals, Inc.

Hertha Metals, Inc. is revitalizing American-made high-purity iron and steel manufacturing through innovation. By leveraging abundant U.S. natural gas and domestic iron ore, Hertha developed a next-generation steelmaking process that delivers high-purity iron, as well as high performance steel, using abundant domestic resources. By 2030, Hertha Metals will scale steel production to 500,000 tonnes annually, a commercial steel micro mill. To learn more, visit www.herthametals.com.