We are discussing The U.S. Battery Startup, Form Energy Discovers Breakthrough Method to Decarbonize Steel:
Form Energy, a U.S. battery startup that gained attention for its long-duration energy storage solution, has recently stumbled upon a groundbreaking way to address another critical challenge of reducing emissions in the highly polluting iron and steel industry.
Form Energy and Iron-Air Battery Connection
Form Energy was founded in 2017 to solve hurdles in the clean energy transition and store energy for long durations at an affordable cost. Their new battery works by charging by turning rust (iron oxide) into metallic iron and discharging by using the rusting of iron back into oxide.
During the creation of their iron-air battery, Form Energy’s engineers came across an unrelated but significant discovery concerning iron creation. This made them embrace using electricity to purify iron instead of burning fossil fuels at high temperatures. This implication is crucial to the steel industry since it is known to contribute about 9% of global carbon emissions.
Iron and Steel Production
Iron is generally processed in hot blast furnaces by scorching it with limestone and purified coal (coke). This process removes the dissolved oxygen from the ore, leaving behind the metallic iron. However, producing coke or passing fossil gas over iron pellets creates significant levels of climate pollution.
Form Energy’s Sustainable Method
Form Energy relies on the more sustainable method of creating powdered metallic iron. They put powdered iron ore in a weak alkaline solution at low temperatures and pass an electric current through it. This method of producing iron is long and can be run continuously; it can also be expanded as needed. However, it still needs as much electricity as the other processes, and its feasibility is connected to cheap power.
This means that they should be using electricity at a cost of not more than 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, much lower than the current average in the United States. Furthermore, the imposition of this process depends on the purity of the electricity source. Even if electricity is generated through coal, high emissions are still achieved.
Challenges and Integration
Integration with Renewable Generation: The company designed its iron electrolysis to work directly with variable renewable energy sources. Therefore, it is keen on improving the effectiveness of alkaline electrolysis compared to previous records.
Conclusion
Form Energy was recently awarded a grant of US $1 million by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). In other words, one of the most aggressive energy storage visionaries has recently positioned itself in the rapidly evolving realm of green iron and steel solutions.
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