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Metallurgy

Iron production electrified

Nature volume 497, pages 324–325 (2013)Cite this article

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Scientists have long dreamt of converting molten iron oxide to iron and oxygen using electricity. An anode material that withstands the high temperatures and corrosive chemicals involved brings the dream closer to reality. See Letter p.353

In 2011, about one billion tonnes of iron was produced worldwide1. Unfortunately, the concomitant generation of carbon dioxide contributed to around 5% of that year's global increase in atmospheric CO2 (ref. 1). This was not because the amount of CO2 produced per tonne of iron is high — it is in fact less than that of most metals — but because of the immense quantity of iron produced. In this issue, Allanore et al.2 (page 353) report a discovery that might lead to a more environmentally friendly method for making iron: the reduction of iron ore using an electric current, a process known as electrolysisFootnote 1.

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Figure 1: Metal extraction by electrolysis.

DMITRY BELIAKOV/REX FEATURES

Notes

  1. *This article and the paper under discussion2 were published online on 8 May 2013.

References

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  1. Derek Fray is in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK.,

    Derek Fray

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Fray, D. Iron production electrified. Nature 497, 324–325 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12102

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