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Title: Is There a Greener Way to Produce Iron?

Link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/04/20/0192...

"Using electrochemistry, University of Oregon researchers have developed a
way to make iron metal for steel production without burning fossil fuels..."
the University of Oregon wrote last year. "Decarbonizing this step would do
roughly as much to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as converting every gas-
guzzling vehicle on the roads to electric... If scaled up, the process could
help decarbonize one of the largest and most emissions-intensive industries
worldwide," replacing carbon-spewing industrial blast furnaces. Paul Kempler,
their research assistant chemistry professor, added "The reason we got
excited about this chemistry, is that our reactants are two things that are
very cheap: saltwater and iron oxide." And this week he announced that "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." "Those reactions conveniently also produce chlorine, a
commercially valuable byproduct," writes SciTechDaily, in a new follow-up
report this week: In their latest study, the researchers focused on improving
the process by identifying which types of iron oxides make the reaction more
cost-effective, an essential step toward scaling the method for industrial
use.... In lab tests, the difference was striking: "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...." To take their
process beyond the lab, Kempler's lab is working with researchers in other
fields. A collaboration with civil engineers at Oregon State University is
helping them better understand what's needed for the product to work in real-
world applications. And collaboration with an electrode manufacturing company
is helping them address the logistical and scientific challenges of scaling
up an electrochemical process. "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. We can continue to have industry and technology and medicine, and we
can do it in a way that's clean - and that's awesome!"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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