Industryweek 4325 Smelter

Electrolysis Method Described for Making 'Green' Iron

May 8, 2013
Iron, the key ingredient of steel, is extracted from ore mined from the Earth's crust in a process known as smelting, which today requires the addition of carbon at extremely high heat -- releasing CO2 .

PARIS -- Scientists unveiled a new method on Wednesday for extracting metallic iron from its ore while curbing Earth-warming carbon dioxide emissions.

This is achieved with electrolysis and has the added benefit of releasing oxygen as a byproduct, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported in the journal Nature.

The new method, molten oxide electrolysis (MOE), "offers both a substantial simplification of the process and a significant reduction in energy consumption," the researchers wrote.

"MOE is also considered a promising route for mitigation of CO2 emissions in steelmaking."

Iron, the key ingredient of steel, is extracted from ore mined from the Earth's crust in a process known as smelting, which today requires the addition of carbon at extremely high heat — releasing CO2.

For their electrolysis method, the team developed special new chromium-based anodes that can handle the high temperature and corrosion of the electrical current flowing through them.

Previous attempts at electrolysis iron extraction had used expensive iridium-based anodes, said a Nature press statement that described the new anodes as "affordable and durable."

In a commentary on the study, Derek Fray of the University of Cambridge's metallurgy department said the findings should stimulate further work to design a large pilot reactor, though "considerable technical development will be required for the authors' discovery to be used commercially."

About a billion tons of iron was produced worldwide in 2011, Fray wrote in Nature — contributing about five percent of that year's global increase in atmospheric CO2.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013

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