High Temperature Electrolysis for Liquid Iron Production

Iron metal is traditionally produced by carbothermic reduction in a blast furnace; an effective, but capital and energy intensive method that produces large amounts of CO₂, SO₂ and a variety of other contaminating byproducts. An alternative route to produce iron might be electrolysis in aqueous, molten salts or oxide based electrolytes. This paper focuses on the behaviour of iron ions and electrowinning of iron at temperatures from 1400 - 1550 °C. Experiments were performed in molten oxide mixtures of SiO2, MgO, Al2O3 and CaO.Fe2O3 was the source of iron. Iron could be deposited on molybdenum cathodes from molten oxide electrolytes containing dissolved Fe2O3, although at very low current efficiency.