Behind the buzz and beyond the hype: Our Nanowerk-exclusive
feature articles Posted: Aug 25th, 2010 Reinventing iron
production using clean renewable energy instead of coal
(Nanowerk Spotlight) Along with control of fire, iron smelting
is one of the founding technological pillars of civilization.
Industry has used the same basic process to make iron for over
3000 years. Yet, it is also one of the major global sources of
greenhouse gas release. Iron, a basic commodity, is still
produced by the greenhouse gas intensive reduction of iron oxide
by carbon-coke and currently accounts for the release of one
quarter of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions by industry. For
instance, on average 1.9 tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted
for every tonne of steel produced (source). Due to a large share
of coal in the energy mix of current production technology, the
CO2 emissions are high. Through a new understanding of the
chemistry of iron at high temperature, researchers have
uncovered an effective new carbon-dioxide-free