MIT spinout Boston Metal has powered up its electricity driven steel production reactor and made over a ton of metal in a crucial step toward commercializing its process. With clean electricity, the process could make steel with zero CO2 emissions.
I thought induction smelting has been a thing for a while? How is this different, just that they’re hooking up to green energy sources?
Right there in the article.
Joining other efforts to decarbonize the steel-production process such as those using hydrogen to refine iron ore, Boston Metal has pioneered a process known as molten oxide electrolysis (MOE).
This method of producing the metal involves combining iron ore with an electrolyte in a reactor and then using electricity instead of coke to heat the mix to about 1,600 °C (2,900 °F). Doing so causes electrons to split the bonds in the iron ore to purify it while outputting only oxygen. Not a single molecule of carbon dioxide is released during the process.
Does an induction furnace still release CO2 somehow?
Depends on how it’s powered. If the electricity comes from burning coal (coke) or methane, that would emit co2. If it runs off solar/hydro/wind it would only emit co2 from any carbon trapped in the iron ore that manages to burn instead of becoming incorporated into the steel.
The CO2 comes from adding the coke to make steel, not getting the thing hot
