Manufacturing Efficiency

Phoenix Tailings is developing an ore-to-iron production process using the arc generated from an electrode to electrolyze the molten oxide electrolyte powered by clean electricity. Molten oxide electrolysis is a promising alternative to conventional approaches, but until now has required anode materials that are either consumable or prohibitively expensive. Instead, Phoenix Tailings’ technology places the anode above the melt, keeping it safe from corrosion.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute is developing manufacturing technologies for low carbon electrolyzed iron powder to be used in iron-silicon electrical steel. In the proposed electrolysis technology, the simultaneous percolation of electrons and ions effectively allows for 3D reaction areas and enables the process to function at higher currents and rates.

Tufts University is developing a method to directly reduce iron ore concentrates with ammonia, eliminating all direct process emissions from the ironmaking step, as well as emissions that result from baking iron ore with clay to make hard pellets. The proposed approach would use ammonia to enable reduction of high-gangue ores as well as decrease melting costs of the reduced iron product.

The University of Utah is developing a hydrogen-reduction melt-less steelmaking technology. The cornerstone of the technology is the direct reduction and alloying from concentrated ore to make steel products, thereby circumventing traditional iron and steelmaking methods. The proposed process has the potential to drastically reduce energy consumption by eliminating several high-energy steps in traditional iron and steelmaking. The process is conducted at substantially lower temperatures than conventional methods.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is developing technology to use electrowinning to convert pulverized iron ore into pure iron that is deposited on a cathode. The approach leverages a rotating impeller to speed up chemical reactions ten-fold and facilitate the transport of iron to the electrode. The goal is to create a laboratory-scale prototype of an impeller-accelerated reactor that maintains the production of one kilogram per hour of over 98% pure iron for 100 hours.

More information on this project is coming soon!

MetOx Technologies is developing faster manufacturing of low-cost high-temperature superconducting tapes to enable the energy transition, such as supporting more powerful electric grid cables and more powerful magnets to unlock fusion power generation. MetOx will transform its manufacturing process in several areas including improving equipment throughput, material efficiency, and tape performance.

Umaro Foods is leveraging advancements in chelator technology to efficiently extract rare earth elements and platinum group metals from seaweeds. They will be applying advanced metal chelator molecules to selectively extract metals in a non-destructive manner from process streams producing valuable food-grade seaweed proteins and commodities such as agar, alginate, and carrageenan.

The University of Houston will scale up manufacturing of low-cost rare earth barium copper oxide conductors for high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape to overcome barriers of implementing HTS in clean energy applications, including low-loss transmission cables, compact nuclear fusion reactors, high-power wind turbine generators, and highly efficient motors and generators.