SBIR Phase II: A New Molten-Oxide Electrochemical Process for Producing Primary Iron and Ferrochromium

这个小型企业创新研究第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是推动知识和工业实践向更清洁、更廉价、更绿色的钢铁和不锈钢发展。该项目将专注于铁和铬铁的生产，前者是全球1.1万亿美元年市场的一部分，后者是全球22亿美元的年市场。实验室规模的惰性阳极熔融氧化物电解法已被证明可以生产低碳铁和铁合金，这是许多高性能钢的基础。目前的低碳金属售价较高。公布的成本模型显示，MOE的资本和运营成本都将低于市场上已有的竞争技术。能源部还可以减少生产这些金属对环境的影响，即使使用今天的电力，还可以用可再生能源带来更大的改善。总而言之，与目前的方法相比，能源部将以更低的成本和更低的环境影响生产质量更高的初级金属。这一第二阶段研究项目的目标是开发一种更便宜、更节能的方法来生产包括铁和铬铁在内的重要金属。最近惰性阳极材料的发明使熔融氧化物电解法(MOE)从矿石中经济地分离出这些金属成为可能。理解新型惰性阳极在MOE中的行为的关键下一步是比在实验室电池中进行更长时间的测试。这项测试只能在更大的范围内实现。第一阶段的模型和对替代系统的测试已经展示了在第二阶段提供这种长期测试的方法。这些测试将为能源部工业规模生产铁和铬铁指明方向。

The broader impact / commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is to advance the state of knowledge and industrial practice toward cleaner, cheaper, greener steel and stainless steel. The project will focus on the production of iron, part of a $1.1 trillion annual market worldwide, and ferrochromium, a $2.2 billion worldwide annual market. Molten oxide electrolysis with an inert anode has been demonstrated at the laboratory scale to produce low-carbon iron and ferroalloys, which are the basis of many high-performance steels. The current low-carbon metals sell at a premium. Published cost models show that both the capital and operating cost of MOE will be lower than competing technologies already in the marketplace. MOE can also reduce the environmental impact of producing these metals, even with today's electricity, and can produce even greater improvements with renewable energy. In summary, MOE will produce primary metals of higher quality at a lower cost and with lower environmental impact than current methods.The objective of this Phase II research project is to develop a cheaper, more energy efficient route to production of important metals including iron and ferrochromium. Economical separation of these metals from their ores by molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) is enabled by the recent invention of an inert anode material. The essential next step in understanding the behavior of the new inert anode in MOE is longer-duration testing than was possible in the laboratory cell. This test can only be achieved at a larger scale. The models and testing on surrogate systems in Phase I have shown the way to provide this long-duration testing in Phase II. These tests will point the way toward industrial-scale production of iron and ferrochromium by MOE.