Reducing iron ore to iron no longer needs costly plant and equipment

 How to separate iron from iron ore in a low-cost plant, on any scale, at room temperature

The electrochemical process is described in this video. 

The process can be scaled up to small, medium and large-scale plants. 
The process runs at room temperature. 

There is no costly blast furnace.

There is no cost for coking coal. 

Processing one tonne of pure hematite iron ore to extract 699 kg of pure iron.

To estimate the electrical energy required to deposit $699\text{ kg}$ of pure iron, we can use Faraday's Laws of Electrolysis. Your conceptual breakdown is exactly right: we calculate the total electrical charge (in Coulombs) by determining how many moles of electrons are needed, and then multiply that charge by the cell voltage to get the total energy in watt-hours.

Here is the step-by-step mathematical estimation.

1. Calculating the Total Charge Required ($Q$)

First, we need to know how many moles of iron atoms are in $699\text{ kg}$ ($699,000\text{ g}$) of iron.

• The atomic weight of Iron ($Fe$) is approximately $55.85\text{ g/mol}$.

$$\text{Moles of }Fe=\frac{699,000\text{ g}}{55.85\text{ g/mol}}\approx 12,515.67\text{ moles of }Fe$$

Next, we look at the valency (the charge of the iron ion in solution). In an acid-chloride system like the one in the video, iron typically dissolves as Iron(II) chloride ($FeC{l}_2$), meaning the iron ions have a valency of $z=2$ ($F{e}^{2+}$). Each mole of iron requires 2 moles of electrons to plate out:

$$\text{Moles of electrons}=12,515.67\times 2=25,031.34\text{ moles of electrons}$$

Faraday's constant ($F$) tells us that 1 mole of electrons carries $96,485\text{ Coulombs}$ of charge.

$$Q=25,031.34\text{ moles of }{e}^{-}\times 96,485\text{ C/mol}\approx 2,415,148,832\text{ Coulombs}$$

Because $1\text{ Ampere}=1\text{ Coulomb per second}$, this number represents the total Ampere-seconds needed. To convert this into a more useful unit like Ampere-hours (Ah), we divide by $3,600$ (seconds in an hour):

$$\text{Total Capacity}=\frac{2,415,148,832\text{ C}}{3,600\text{ s/hr}}\approx 670,875\text{ Ah}$$

2. Incorporating the Voltage ($V$)

As you noted, energy is the voltage multiplied by the current over time ($E=V\times I\times t$, or simply $E=V\times Q$).

The absolute theoretical minimum voltage (thermodynamic electromotive force) required to split iron chloride into solid iron and chlorine gas is roughly $1.1\text{ to }1.3\text{ V}$. However, in a real-world industrial cell, you must overcome electrical resistance in the electrolyte, the resistance of the ion-exchange membrane, and "overpotentials" at the electrodes.

For an industrial electrowinning process, a realistic operating cell voltage is around $2.5\text{ Volts}$.

$$E=670,875\text{ Ah}\times 2.5\text{ V}=1,677,187.5\text{ Watt-hours (Wh)}$$

Converting this to Megawatt-hours (MWh) by dividing by $1,000,000$:

$$\text{Theoretical Energy}\approx 1.68\text{ MWh}$$

3. Factoring in Real-World Efficiency

In practice, electrochemical cells do not operate at 100% current efficiency. Some electrons are wasted on side reactions—most notably, generating tiny amounts of hydrogen gas at the cathode instead of plating iron.

If we assume a typical industrial current efficiency of $85\%$, the actual energy requirement increases:

$$\text{Actual Energy}=\frac{1.68\text{ MWh}}{0.85}\approx 1.98\text{ MWh}$$

Final Estimate

To process 1 tonne of iron ore (depositing $699\text{ kg}$ of pure iron), it will take approximately $1.7\text{ to }2.0\text{ MWh}$ of electrical energy.

How does this compare to other methods?

To put this into perspective, using hydrogen to reduce iron ore via the DRI path requires about $2.3\text{ to }3.0\text{ MWh}$ of electricity per tonne of iron (primarily because running an electrolyzer to generate, compress, and heat hydrogen involves multiple energy-loss steps).

Your aqueous electrolysis method is remarkably energy-efficient on paper because it cuts out the middleman (hydrogen) and applies the electrons directly to the iron ore atoms at room temperature.

To compare your electrolytic estimate of ~2 MWh per tonne of pure iron ore to a traditional blast furnace, we need to scale the consumption of coking coal down to that same 1-tonne-of-ore baseline and look at the financial costs.

A clear distinction exists between coke (the pure carbon fed into the furnace) and coking coal (the raw metallurgical coal mined from the ground used to make it).

1. The Material Balance (Per 1 Tonne of Ore)

In a conventional blast furnace, the consumption metrics are typically measured per tonne of pig iron produced. A highly optimized, modern blast furnace requires about 450 kg to 500 kg of finished coke per tonne of pig iron.

Using our established iron-yield ratios ($1.345\text{ tonnes of ore}$ to make $1\text{ tonne of pig iron}$):

• Coke required per tonne of ore: $\approx 350\text{ kg}$

However, to make 1 kg of finished furnace coke, you have to bake roughly 1.3 to 1.4 kg of raw coking coal in an oxygen-free oven to drive off the volatile matter, water, and impurities.

• Raw Coking Coal required per tonne of ore: $350\text{ kg}\times 1.35\approx 473\text{ kg}$

The Quantity Verdict: Processing 1 tonne of pure iron ore in a traditional blast furnace consumes roughly 473 kg of raw metallurgical coking coal.

2. The Cost Analysis (Per 1 Tonne of Ore)

Global seaborne benchmark pricing for Premium Hard Coking Coal (FOB Australia) sits around USD $240 to $250 per metric tonne.

$$\text{Cost of raw coal per tonne of ore}=0.473\text{ tonnes of coal}\times \$245\approx \text{USD }\$116$$

However, this is just for the raw material. Converting that coal into furnace-ready coke inside an industrial coke oven adds significant processing costs, pushing the actual value of the $350\text{ kg}$ of structural coke closer to USD $130 to $140 per tonne of processed ore.

3. Financial Comparison: Coal vs. Electrons

The economic viability of your low-temperature electrolysis process depends entirely on the local cost of renewable electricity relative to that $116–$140 carbon baseline.

To match or beat the raw cost of coking coal, your 2 MWh of electricity must cost less than the carbon it replaces.

Wholesale Green Electricity Price (per MWh)	2 MWh Electrolysis Cost	Cost vs. Coking Coal ($116)
$30 / MWh (Highly optimized solar/wind)	$60	~50% Cheaper (Highly competitive)
$55 / MWh (Average industrial grid rate)	$110	Parity (Breakeven on raw inputs)
$80 / MWh (Higher-cost grid/battery backup)	$160	More Expensive

The CapEx Advantage

While input cost parity happens at roughly $55/MWh, your electrolysis process holds an uncalculated economic advantage: Capital Expenditure (CapEx).

A traditional blast furnace requires an interconnected network of multi-billion dollar assets: a coking plant to bake the coal, a sintering plant to prep the ore, hot-blast stoves, and the furnace itself. Because these assets cannot be turned off without destroying their refractory linings, operators face massive financial risk if demand drops.

Your aqueous electrolysis cell cuts out the coke ovens entirely. It can scale up incrementally, stack by stack, matching whatever capital an enterprise has on hand—making it an attractive entry point for decentralized, small-to-medium scale ironmaking.

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