Boston Metal is a company developing a technology known as molten oxide

electrolysis In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses Direct current, direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of c ...

(MOE) to decarbonize

steelmaking Steelmaking is the process of producing steel from iron ore and/or scrap. Steel has been made for millennia, and was commercialized on a massive scale in the 1850s and 1860s, using the Bessemer process, Bessemer and open hearth furnace, Siemens-M ...

and recover high-value metals from mining waste. The company is based in

Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' ...

, with its Brazilian subsidiary, Boston Metal do Brasil, based in

Coronel Xavier Chaves Coronel Xavier Chaves is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Campo das Vertentes and to the microregion of São João del-Rei. In 2021, the estimated population was 3,488. The mu ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

History

Boston Metal's core technology was developed by researchers at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

after professor Donald Sadoway demonstrated the use of electrical currents to break down metal oxides in an

electrolytic cell An electrolytic cell is an electrochemical cell that utilizes an external source of electrical energy to force a chemical reaction that would otherwise not occur. The external energy source is a voltage applied between the cell's two electrodes; ...

to produce molten metal and oxygen gas. Laboratory tests revealed that Sadoway's anode material could produce steel. The team published a paper in ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' in 2013. Boston Metal was founded that year. Tadeu Carneiro joined the company as CEO in 2017 adding more than 40 years of experience and leadership in the metals industry. He was named a Boston Globe Tech Power Player in 2023. In 2022, Boston Metal completed the first test of its semi-industrial 25,000-amp (MOE) cell, a key step in commercializing the technology. The company launched its Brazilian subsidiary focused on high-value metals production in 2022 and began construction in Brazil in

. Boston Metal currently has more than 200 employees. In 2024, the company was selected for the TIME100 Most Influential Companies list, and its green steel solution, MOE, was recognized as one of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas. Boston Metal was named North American Company of the Year by the Cleantech Group in 2023, a 2023 Norrsken Impact/100 nominee, received the S&P Platts Global Metal Award in 2021, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance Technology Pioneer in 2020, and is currently on the Global Cleantech 100 list by the Cleantech Group. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) announced in November 2023 that it would provide the company with funding to support the building of a new facility in

Weirton, West Virginia Weirton ( ) is a city in Hancock and Brooke counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is located along the Ohio River in the state's Northern Panhandle. The population was 19,163 at the 2020 census, making it the seventh-most populous ...

. The plant will manufacture critical materials needed for clean power,

fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...

s, and green steel supply chains. Boston Metal has raised over $370,000,000 as of January 2024.

Technology

Boston Metal's MOE technology offers an approach to steelmaking that does not involve direct carbon emissions. For a century electrolysis has been the primary method of producing

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

. Boston Metal is applying a variant of the technique to iron. In the MOE cell, an inert anode is immersed in an electrolyte containing

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

. An electric current is applied to the electrolyte. When the cell reaches 1600C, the iron is reduced, yielding liquid iron. The MOE platform differs from traditional steelmaking in that it can be powered by

renewable electricity Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind power, and hydropower. Bioenergy and ...

and eliminates many steps in the production process, including the use of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

/coke. The technology can also be applied to extract valuable metals from low-concentration materials conventionally considered waste, reducing financial and environmental impacts.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.bostonmetal.com/ American companies established in 2013 Technology companies based in Massachusetts