Industrial steelmaking emits about two tons of carbon dioxide for every ton of steel produced. The date by which some of the largest steelmakers have pledged to reach net-zero emissions is in the future. It might be out of reach unless major changes come to the industry.
Boston Metal's new reactor is a significant step on the way to becoming a commercial steelmaker. The startup has developed a process to make green steel that can be worked out in smaller vessels. The company is trying to scale up and the new reactor is the next step in that process.
One of the world's toughest challenges in controlling carbon emissions is solved if Boston Metal can scale its clean production process and access enough renewable electricity to run it.
Decarbonizing the industry isn't glamorous, but steel is used in everything. Boston Metal's CEO says people don't pay a lot of attention to the industrials. It is very conservative and it is difficult to abate.
Steel production is dependent on fossil fuels. Most steelmaking starts in a blast furnace, where coke, which is almost pure carbon, reacts with iron Ore, a mixture of iron oxides and other minerals. Liquid iron was left behind when the reaction pulled out oxygen. Oxygen and carbon dioxide are released into the air.
Boston Metal has a solution that is completely new. Instead of using carbon to remove oxygen, the process uses electricity to run through a cell filled with dissolved iron oxides. Everything is melted into a hot oxide soup when the cell is hot.
Electricity is used to drive the chemical reactions. Oxygen gas is produced when molten iron gathers at the bottom of the reactor.
The MOE process is able to handle low-quality iron Ore because the impurities stay out of the reaction.
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