Coin made from green iron produced in the lab | Courtesy: Helios
Israeli space tech startup Helios has announced a recent infusion of $6 million will help fund its ambition to create an emission-free future for the steel industry.
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Current methods of steel production emit large quantities of carbon dioxide through the reduction of iron ore with carbon. Each ton of steel produced results in the emission of approximately two tons of CO2, making the industry responsible for 8% of humanity's carbon footprint. Additionally, the US steel industry relies on natural gas and coal coke and breeze for fuel, accounting for roughly 6% of total energy consumed by manufacturing.
But Helios scientists have discovered that the technology created for the reactor it has developed to extract oxygen and iron from regolith could also be used to extract 99% pure iron from iron ore, using an entirely novel chemical process. The method requires 50% less energy than what is currently used in the industry, while operating at temperatures so low that a household oven would suffice to initiate the process.
Unlike other green steel technologies, Helios does not require steelmakers to make major changes to their existing processes. The company is designing a module that can be integrated into Direct Reduction of Iron (DRI) furnaces. This approach will reduce cost and facilitate faster adoption.
"The steel industry is extremely cost-sensitive," explains Prof. Raúl Topolevsky, a senior advisor to steel makers and an industry expert. "Many companies are now committing to reducing emissions with targets to achieve carbon neutrality across all operations by a certain date. But 'green steel' often comes at a premium price, and if their costs increase, it negatively affects the entire economy."
Helios, led by founder and CEO Jonathan Geifman, was not founded to green steel at a lower cost. The company's original goal was and remains to produce oxygen to sustain recurring missions to the moon by producing it on site. Their proprietary technology extracts oxygen from lunar regolith, the mixture of powdery dust and broken rock on the surface of the moon.
"On the moon we don't have the luxury of using carbon for energy, you have to be extremely efficient and cannot waste or emit anything," said Geifman. "The extraterrestrial environment really pushes your R&D to the extreme. You cannot be iterative and must reinvent processes entirely. That is how we came up with this completely novel method of extraction that we soon realized would be beneficial for life on earth, as well."
"It's fascinating to me that while Helios was focused on creating technologies to further sustainable Moon missions and habitation – literally taking its 'moonshot' – they stumbled across this brand-new process to benefit life on earth," said Uri Oron, Director of the Israel Space Agency at the Science and Technology Ministry.
"This is a great example of the close connection between space technology and its impact on our lives here on Earth," Oron added.
The recently completed seed funding round was led by At One Ventures, the "net positive to nature" investment firm, and Doral Energy-Tech Ventures. Deep tech investor Metaplanet and a global Top 5 mining company also participated.
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