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AssigneeElectrasteel, Inc.
InventorsAi Quoc PHAM, Sandeep NIJHAWAN, Adolfredo ALVAREZ, Colleen WALLACE, Steven FATUR
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Methods and systems for producing iron from an iron-containing ore are disclosed. For example, a method for producing iron comprises: providing an iron-containing ore to a dissolution subsystem comprising a first electrochemical cell and a dissolution tank; dissolving the iron-containing ore to form an acidic iron-salt solution; reducing Fe3+ ions to form Fe2+ ions and electrochemically generating protons in the first electrochemical cell; circulating solution between the dissolution tank and the first electrochemical cell; transferring formed Fe2+ ions from the dissolution subsystem to an iron-plating subsystem having a second electrochemical cell; second electrochemically reducing a first portion of the transferred formed Fe2+ ions to Fe metal at a second cathode of the second electrochemical cell; and removing the Fe metal. The methods and systems optionally include removing one or more impurities found in the feedstock.
A method for producing iron, the method comprising:
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of electrochemically generating the electrochemically-generated protons comprises electrochemically oxidizing water at the first anode.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of providing electrochemically-generated protons comprises transporting the electrochemically-generated protons through the separator from the anolyte to the catholyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the electrochemical cell is characterized by a Coulombic efficiency of greater than 80%.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the electrochemically-generated protons at least partially form acid in the first catholyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, comprising providing water from the first catholyte to the first anolyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, comprising providing water from the catholyte to the anolyte via osmosis through the first separator, and/or flash distillation.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the anolyte has a different composition than the catholyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein first anolyte has a different pH than the first catholyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first catholyte has a lower pH than the first anolyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first anolyte comprises a different composition of dissolved salts that in the first catholyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first anolyte contains one or more dissolved ferric iron salts;
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first catholyte comprises one or more supporting salts.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first anolyte is characterized by at least one redox couple being different than in the first catholyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first anolyte comprises a higher total concentration of dissolved salts than the first catholyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the catholyte is characterized by a maximum iron ion concentration being selected from the range of 1 to 5 M.
The method of any one of the preceding claims comprising electrochemically generating oxygen (O2) at the anode.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first anolyte is ionically connected to the first catholyte through the first separator.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the separator is an ion exchange membrane.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the produced iron-rich solution is characterized by a total iron ion concentration selected from the range of 1 to 5 M.
The method of any one of the preceding claims further comprising air-roasting at least a portion of the iron-containing ore in the presence of air at a temperature selected from the range 200° C. and 600° C. to form an air-roasted ore.
The method of 51, wherein the step of circulating comprises first circulating the dissolution solution first between electrochemical cell and the third dissolution tank having the raw ore, then second circulating the dissolution solution between electrochemical cell and the second dissolution tank having the air-roasted ore, then third circulating the dissolution solution between electrochemical cell and the first dissolution tank having the thermally-reduced ore.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of dissolving is performed in at least one dissolution tank;
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the acidic iron-salt solution comprises an acid selected from the group consisting of:
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of transferring the formed Fe2+ ions comprises removing at least a portion of the iron-rich solution from the dissolution subsystem and delivering a delivered iron-rich solution to the iron-plating subsystem;
The method of 82, wherein dissolving at least a portion of the iron-containing ore generates insoluble impurities;
The method of 83, wherein the removal of at least a portion of the insoluble impurities is by filtering and/or separating out the insoluble impurities.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the removed Fe metal is characterized by:
The method of any one of the preceding claims comprising electrochemically oxidizing Fe2+ ions to form second Fe3+ ions in the second anolyte.
The method of any one of the preceding claims comprising recycling a first recycle solution from the iron-plating subsystem to the dissolution subsystem;
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of second electrochemically reducing is complete or turned off when the second catholyte of the second electrochemical cell is characterized by a total concentration of iron ions being 60% to 70% of a concentration of iron ions in (i) the delivered iron-rich solution or (ii) the produced iron-rich solution.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of second electrochemically reducing is complete or turned off when an average thickness of the formed Fe metal on a second cathode of the second electrochemical cell is selected from the range of 1 mm to 10 mm.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the iron-plating subsystem comprises a first circulation tank configured circulate a second catholyte between a second cathodic chamber of the second electrochemical cell and the first circulation tank;
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second separator is a PEM or an anion exchange membrane (AEM) or a microporous separator.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first electrochemical cell is operated at a different current density than the second electrochemical cell.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first electrochemical cell is concurrently operated at a different current density than the second electrochemical cell.
The method of any one of the preceding claims comprising repeating the method for at least 5 cycles.
The method of and the preceding claim, wherein the feedstock comprise hematite, maghemite, ferrihydrite, limonite, magnetite, geothite, akaganite, lepidocrocite, ferroxyhite, or any combination of these.
The method of any one of the preceding claims comprising generating H2 gas and collecting the generated H2 gas.
The method of any one of the preceding claims comprising electrically controlling the first electrochemical cell to prevent Fe metal electroplating at the first cathode.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second electrochemical cell is operating at a temperature selected from the range of 40° C. to 80° C.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second electrochemical cell comprises a second catholyte and a second anolyte;
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the removed Fe metal comprises at least 99 wt. % Fe.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first anode has a composition comprising lead, lead oxide, manganese oxide, a mixed metal oxide, iridium oxide, ruthenium oxide, or any combination of these.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first cathode has a composition comprising, carbon, graphite, titanium, or any combination of these.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second anode has a composition comprising carbon, graphite, lead, lead oxide, a mixed metal oxide, or any combination of these.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second cathode has a composition comprising, steel, low carbon steel, stainless steel, copper, copper alloy or any combination of these.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of removing the iron metal comprises (a) scraping the iron metal off the second cathode during the step of second electrochemically reducing and (b) collecting the scraped iron metal.
The method of any one of the preceding claims comprising providing electrical energy input to one or more steps of the method;
The method of any one of the preceding claims comprising a step of making steel;
The method of any one of the preceding claims comprising operating the second electrochemical cell in a discharge mode, the discharge mode comprising oxidizing the electroplated Fe metal in the second electrochemical cell;
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of second electrochemically reducing is an iron electroplating reaction.
A system for producing iron, the method comprising:
The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first anolyte comprises water or an aqueous salt solution;
The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first anolyte has a different composition than the first catholyte.
The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first iron-containing ore comprises a thermally-reduced ore having magnetite.
The system of any one of the preceding claims comprising a second dissolution tank having an air-roasted ore;
The system of any one of the preceding claims comprising a third dissolution tank having a raw ore;
The system of any one of the preceding claims wherein the produced iron-rich solution has an iron ion concentration selected from the range of 1 M to 4 M.
The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein Fe2+ ions are oxidized to Fe3+ ions in the second anolyte.
The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the transition subsystem removes at least a portion of the produced iron-rich solution and treats the removed portion of the iron-rich solution, thereby forming a treated iron-rich solution.
The system of any one of the preceding claims, comprising a spent electrolyte recycling system configured to recycle a first recycle solution from the second electrochemical cell to the dissolution subsystem.
The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the transition subsystem comprises a first impurity removal subsystem configured to remove at least a portion of the one or more impurities from the iron-rich solution, thereby forming a treated iron-rich solution having at least a portion of the formed Fe2+ ions;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.