Electra is a startup producing low-carbon clean iron using a variety of ores and powered by intermittent renewable energy. According to Electra, about 1.9 million metric tonnes of steel are produced annually worlwide, mostly by melting high-grade ores with coal and other mineral in furnaces operating at 1,600°C, which emit 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions. Electra’s goal is to drastically reduce ironmaking emissions, which account for 90% of steel’s manufacturing emissions.
The technology being developed by Electra consists of a low-temperature hydrometallurgical and electrochemical process to electrify the refinement of a variety of iron ores to clean iron by leveraging proven industrial-scale equipment and processes. Subsequently, the clean iron with near zero-impurities is converted to steel using electricity-powered arc furnaces (EAFs) used today to produce 70% of US steel and 30% of steel globally.
Iron ore is known to be slow to dissolve and hard to keep in solution while removing impurities. The electrochemical process developed by Electra accelerates the dissolution of iron ore and keeps iron in solution, while removing impurities and leaning a pure, clean iron solution for electroplating. This impurity removal process allows Electra to use a variety of ores including ores with less than 55% iron content), millions of tonnes of which have already been mined. With a diminishing supply of naturally occurring high-grades ores, efficiently using a wider range of ores is critical to building a sustainable steel industry.
The clean, high-purity iron allows electric arc furnaces (EAF) steelmakers to replace higher impurity pig iron and other high-emission ore-based iron feedstocks; leading to premium and advanced grades of steel with the lowest embodied emissions. Electra’s clean iron offers a clear “line of sight” from steel plants to automakers to consumers who are increasingly demanding greener low or zero-carbon emissions products.
As a high-quality ore-based metal, Electra’s clean iron also allows EAFs to recycle a broader range of scrap in their steel production processes, paving the way for a cleaner, more sustainable and circular steel industry.
