Decarbonisation is a great example of where our work supports that mission. The introduction of a carbon tax in Europe, for example, provides us with economic motivation, while as society – for people and planet – we know we need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
We’re supporting every aspect of ArcelorMittal’s decarbonisation work, where we’re making a huge effort to reduce CO2 emissions from our blast furnaces, either by introducing alternatives to mineral coal or by deploying carbon-capture technology. We’re also looking closely at alternative, breakthrough technologies that hold the potential to fundamentally change how steel is made and replace blast furnaces with something else. And this is a good example of how we focus our efforts on advancing the technology readiness of earlier stage, breakthrough technologies, such as our low temperature, iron electrolysis project, Volteron™.
As a technology, electrolysis has been around since Michael Faraday in the early 19th century. It is how copper is produced today, by passing an electric current through a solution containing copper compounds to extract copper from impure metal. We’ve been exploring it for ironmaking - using electricity to break down iron ore to produce iron – since 2004, trying to overcome the challenge of taking it from the science lab to industrial scale while also keeping it economical.
We began with small-scale tests and have gradually scaled up. But it’s not as simple as just adding iron ore to water and flicking a switch. The challenge is doing it at scale - while electrolysis can produce iron directly, it also produces hydrogen, which lowers the efficiency. That’s why we’ve been experimenting with different options for the electrolyte we use. The most promising solution is iron ore mixed with water and sodium hydroxide, heated up to 110 degrees, so low-temperature electrolysis. It looks like molten chocolate – but is very caustic. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to drink it.
This year we will have a plant that will start producing 1-square metre plates of pure iron, 5 mm thick. It’s still R&D but looks like a small factory – a big warehouse with forklifts, cranes and all employees kitted out in appropriate personal protection equipment. The tech holds enormous potential for carbon free ironmaking, and we’ve come a long way, having taken the project from a technology readiness level of 1 to 6, although we do still have a lot of work ahead to reach 9 – active commissioning.