Posted on 04/09/2025 8:07:39 PM PDT by Red Badger
A low-temperature electrochemical method for producing iron could reshape the steel industry.
A blazing snapshot of traditional ironmaking, one of the world’s most polluting industries. sdlgzps/iStock
*************************************************************************
Steel is the backbone of modern civilization—used in everything from buildings and bridges to cars and appliances.
On the other hand, steelmaking is one of the world’s largest sources of carbon emissions, primarily due to the traditional process of extracting iron from ore using coal-fired blast furnaces.
As the global demand for steel continues to grow, finding cleaner, more sustainable methods of production is critical—not just for climate goals, but for the future of industry itself.
Now, researchers are turning to electrochemistry to reimagine how we make iron, the key ingredient in steel.
Instead of relying on high-temperature, fossil-fueled furnaces, this emerging method uses electricity to extract pure iron from iron oxide at much lower temperatures and with significantly fewer emissions.
It’s a promising step toward a greener steel industry—one that could help cut pollution without sacrificing performance or profitability.
Rethinking iron ore for industrial scale
At the University of Oregon, chemist Paul Kempler and his team are developing an electrochemical process that transforms iron oxide and saltwater into pure iron metal—while also producing chlorine, a commercially valuable byproduct.
This method could slash the environmental impact of traditional ironmaking and eventually compete on cost with today’s carbon-heavy approaches.
Last year, the team showed that electrochemistry could successfully convert iron oxide into iron in the lab.
But real-world iron ores are far more complex than the purified materials used in earlier tests.
To bring their process closer to industrial reality, the researchers needed to figure out which types of naturally occurring iron oxides would work best in these low-temperature reactions.
“We actually have a chemical principle, a sort of guiding design rule, that will teach us how to identify low-cost iron oxides that we could use in these reactors,” Kempler said.
Shape over size!
To answer that question, postdoctoral researcher Ana Konovalova and graduate student Andrew Goldman investigated how the shape and structure of iron oxide particles affect the process.
They created porous and dense particles with similar compositions but different internal architecture.
Their findings were clear: porosity matters. Porous particles, which have more internal surface area, allowed iron to be produced faster and more efficiently.
Dense particles, by contrast, slowed the process down and limited how much iron could be made at once.
“With the really porous particles, we can make iron really quickly on a small area,” Goldman said. “The dense particles just can’t achieve the same rate, so we’re limited in how much iron we can make per square meter of electrodes.”
Metal oxide particles that matter for efficiency in electrochemical ironmaking. – ACS Energy Letters 2025
===================================================================
A big leap forward
Efficiency is more than a scientific win—it’s a business necessity. Large-scale electrochemical plants are expensive, and the faster a system can produce iron, the sooner it pays for itself.
Using porous particles, the team estimated they could produce iron for under $600 per metric ton, which is in the same ballpark as conventional ironmaking.
Further advances in electrode design and porous feedstock materials could push the process even further.
To accelerate the path from lab to industry, the team is collaborating with civil engineers at Oregon State University and an electrode manufacturing company.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
“I think what this work shows is that technology can meet the needs of an industrial society without being environmentally devastating,” Goldman said.
“We haven’t solved all the problems yet, of course, but I think it’s an example that serves as a nucleation point for a different way of thinking about what solutions look like.”
The study is published in ACS Energy Letters.
Now, if “they” would just stop burning tires [Ms. Walz nose not withstanding] to make cement....
So, like all the electric car nitwits, they get their electricity from the Voltage Fairy.
Which I presume comes from fairies dancing in the woods.
And I supposed that the electricity makes this process work at all comes only from solar panels and windmills.
And they will just grow the beams, sheet metal panels nuts and bolts etc in electrochemical molds.
Darn. I thought it was sharks with laser beams.
I wonder if it would work on slag heaps.
Have you seen the size of the battery packs that the sharks have to behind them to power those lasers????
Heck, I burn 'em just for fun!
converting iron ore into sponge iron via one of the direct reduced iron methods has gone into production worldwide, being more energy efficient than blast furnaces ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_reduced_iron
According to the EPA, burning tires to make cement is better than landfilling them. 2500 degree fire leaves little residual ash.
Tires also burn cleaner than most coal.
The exception is on earth day when individual tires are burned on front lawns.
No doubt. Better, on average, than piling them yugely up in mosquito sanctuaries.
Still, there has to be some nasty compounds in the exhaust gas.
[SO2 comes to mind as a big one]
Yesbut...this process produces iron, not steel. Iron, obviously the main component of steel, is fairly useless unless and until it is converted to steel. It has nothing like the strength of steel. The process, or I should say, the several processes for converting iron to steel, requires the steel to be brought to above its melting point and blasting oxygen through it. Naturally this could be done with wind generators/s.
Converting iron to steel also involves the introduction of various other metals, manganese, chromium, nickel, etc; to create alloys with various desirable characteristics. For this to occur, the metals have to be liquified.
So even though iron could be produced electrolytically, steel can not, not to mention all the alloys that make life itself© possible.
Get back to me when they’ve figured out how to mix a bit of chlorine and iron together to rust proof them
“Converting iron to steel also involves the introduction of various other metals, manganese, chromium, nickel, etc; to create alloys with various desirable characteristics. For this to occur, the metals have to be liquified.”
And Carbon. First and foremost Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon.
The only way I can see this being commercially viable is if they mass-produce SMR’s. Then we might be talkin’ business.
Came here for this.
Maybe they can make low temp iron, but unless they're going to make Lodge frying pans, they need to add carbon to iron to make steel.
Yes, this entire article has me and everyone else who has ever worked with metal of any type scratching their heads. Pure metal of any type is typically not as useful as various alloys. 14k gold is only 58.3% gold and 41.7% other metals, like copper, silver, nickel, or zinc which make it much stronger than 24k gold which is 99.9% gold.
When I am casting lead to make bullets, pure lead is only used for pistol bullets because it is so soft and cannot be heat treated. Iron is useful for some purposes but high strength applications are not one of them.
Yep, fact. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.