From: theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk   
      
   JAB  wrote:   
   > An electrifying new ironmaking method could slash carbon emissions   
   >   
   > By extracting metallic iron without producing carbon dioxide, the new   
   > process could even be carbon negative, at least for part of the   
   > world's iron production   
      
   "Still, a laboratory experiment is a long way from an industrial process.   
   Even if the technique can be scaled up, there are kinks to work out.  The   
   Oregon group’s setup generates essentially as much chlorine gas as it does   
   iron, notes Iryna Zenyuk, a chemical engineer at the University of   
   California, Irvine.  Although chlorine gas has many industrial uses, the   
   amount that would be generated by a scaled-up version of the new method   
   would be more than is needed, leading to pollution.  As well, Zenyuk says,   
   producing iron electrochemically requires that the starting iron oxide be   
   pristine without the impurities found in most ores.  “Purification can be   
   costly,” she says.   
      
   Kempler says both concerns are valid.  Even so, scaling production to match   
   industrial chlorine gas needs would still produce tens of millions of tons   
   of CO2-free iron and chlorine annually, he notes.  As for the purification   
   of iron oxide, he adds that because sodium hydroxide is well known to bind   
   to trace impurities in iron ore, some of it can be used to purify the iron   
   oxide prior to use in the reactor, a project they are currently testing.  If   
   it all works out, ironmaking could someday put a little less burden on the   
   climate."   
      
      
   What could you do with an excess of chlorine?  Assuming all the industrial   
   uses have taken what they need and there is still some remaining.   
      
   Theo   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)