(588a) Direct Electrochemical Reduction of Ores to Metals: from Single Particles to Electrochemical Stacks

Ironmaking contributes a similar amount of greenhouse emissions to all passenger vehicle transport, globally, and new chemical processes must be adopted to meet decarbonization targets. The electrochemical reduction of iron oxide to elemental iron is a zero-emissions alternative to legacy ironmaking and can be accomplished at rapid reaction rates within concentrated sodium hydroxide electrolytes. Motivated by a desire to produce an economically competitive alternative to blast furnaces, our lab invented the “chlor-iron” process to directly produce hydroxide and iron metal from water and oxide ore. In this seminar, I will introduce device designs for simultaneous production of iron metal and chlorine at industrially relevant current densities (> 0.1 A cm-2) and discuss the physical processes which control the reduction rate of solid metal oxide particles at electrode surfaces. A series of size-controlled hematite particles were prepared to measure the relationship between primary/secondary morphology and electrochemical activity in a cell environment. In-situ measurements of reactive iron intermediates were used to support a general mechanism for direct metal-oxide-to-metal reduction. Lastly, I will discuss potential pathways to fully electrified ironmaking at the plant scale."