Low temperature, low emission iron production

Abstract

Production of high purity iron powder employs high efficiency low temperature electrolysis resulting in a process requiring substantially less energy with no CO 2 gas and has high energy reduction. Configurations provide a renewable electricity supply that is environmental benign with low energy consumption. A hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ), carbon and highly concentrated NaOH combine to form an electronically and ionically conductive suspension for iron production. The suspension is flowable which can also be applied to a flow electrolysis system. High purity iron powder is produced at the cathode side while the anode side can produce O 2 gas as a byproduct.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of generating iron powder, comprising:
 forming a flowable suspension including a metal compound;   disposing the flowable suspension in electrical communication with a conductive foam cathode submerged in an electrolyte;   forming a separator and conductive foam anode in communication with the conductive foam cathode;   applying a voltage between the conductive form anode and conductive foam cathode; and   harvesting iron from the conductive foam cathode.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising forming the flowable suspension from hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ) and carbon particles and submerging in a sodium hydroxide electrolyte bath. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the suspension is conductive and the electrolyte is sodium hydroxide. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising submerging the suspension in a sodium hydroxide bath and agitating the suspension with a magnetic stirrer. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 accumulating pure iron and carbon particles at the cathode, and 
 separating the pure iron from the carbon particles via magnetic separation. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising forming a colloid of the metal powder, carbon and sodium hydroxide. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising applying a voltage between 1.4 and 2.0 volts between the conductive form cathode and the conductive foam anode. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising delivering a charge via a conductive network formed by the suspended carbon particles for reducing Fe 2 O 3  to Fe. 
     
     
         9 . An iron producing apparatus, comprising:
 a cathode containment;   a flowable suspension including a metal compound disposed in the cathode containment;   a conductive foam cathode disposed in electrical communication with the flowable suspension, the cathode containment submerged in an electrolyte;   a separator on top of the conductive foam cathode;   a conductive foam anode on top of the separator and in communication with the conductive foam cathode; and   a voltage source connected between the conductive form anode and conductive foam cathode.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9  wherein the flowable suspension is a combination of hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ) and carbon particles and is submerged in a sodium hydroxide electrolyte bath. 
     
     
         11 . A method of iron production, comprising:
 combining hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ), carbon and highly concentrated NaOH for forming an electronically and ionically conductive suspension for iron production;   circulating the suspension in an electrolysis environment for cycling in the presence of a Ni foam current collector and anode; and   extracting iron powder at the cathode side while the anode side produces O 2  gas as a byproduct.