EAGER/SusChEM/Collaborative Research: Feasibility of Molten Oxide Inductolysis for Metal Alloy Processing

这一探索性研究早期概念补助金(AGER)可持续化学、工程和材料(SusChEM)合作研究项目将允许通过实验证明熔融氧化物感应分解的可行性，这是一种新概念，有望减少能源消耗、温室气体排放和加工金属合金所需的资本投资。这一概念依赖于使用电力(来自可再生资源)将各种氧化物矿石原料转化为金属，从而使用于合金生产的原材料具有更大的灵活性。有了这一概念，就有可能使用品级较低(即更便宜)的原料，产品质量与之相当。这种增强的灵活性，再加上运行时有害排放较少的潜力，可能会影响美国金属制造业的回归。该项目将电解与感应加热相结合，以消除高温中间合金加工过程中对电阻加热的依赖。基本的前提是，通过使用感应加热，可以将制热过程与电解过程分离。目标是平衡能量，这样氧化物分解所需的能量将来自电化学电位差，而感应将提供其他所需的能量，如熔化和过热。拟议的工作将寻求使用一个实验室反应堆模型系统来证明这一创新的实验概念验证。未来的工作将涉及过程-结构关系的基本原理，开发一个全面的电化学和热过程模型，以及扩大熔融氧化物感应分解的途径。

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) Sustainable Chemistry, Engineering, and Materials (SusChEM) Collaborative Research project will allow for experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of Molten Oxide Inductolysis, a new concept that holds the promise to reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and the capital investment required to process metal alloys. This concept relies on the use of electricity (derived from renewable sources) to convert various oxide ore feedstock to metal, allowing for greater flexibility on the raw materials to be used for alloy production. With this concept, it may be possible to use lower grade (i.e. cheaper) feedstock with comparable product quality. This enhanced flexibility, coupled with the potential to operate with less harmful emissions, could impact the return of metal manufacturing in the United States.This project combines electrolysis with inductive heating to eliminate the dependence on resistive heating during processing of high temperature master alloys. The underlying premise is that it will be possible to decouple the heat-generation processes from the electrolysis process through the use of induction heating. The goal is to balance the energy such that the energy required for the oxide decomposition would be derived from the electrochemical potential difference while induction would provide the other energy needs such as melting and superheating. The proposed work will seek to demonstrate an experimental proof-of-concept for this innovation using a model laboratory reactor system. Future work will address the fundamentals of the process-structure relationships, the development of a comprehensive electrochemical and thermal process model as well as a path to scale-up for Molten Oxide Inductolysis.