ArcelorMittal and John Cockerill will build the first low-temperature iron smelter

(Boursier.com) — ArcelorMittal and John Cockerill, a leading group in the development of steel processing facilities and electrolysers, announce their project to build the first low-temperature iron electrolysis plant on an industrial scale.

The Volteron plant, which in a first phase will produce between 40,000 and 80,000 tons per year of iron plates, should start production in 2027. Once the technology has been proven on this scale, the intention is to increase the annual capacity of the plant between 30,000 and 1 million tonnes.

Remember that ArcelorMittal and John Cockerill have been working together on an innovative electrochemical process to transform iron oxide into iron plates for several years. The project, formerly known as Siderwin, has so far been funded through the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. Besides ArcelorMittal and John Cockerill, project partners include EDF, Tecnalia, Quantis, University of Aveiro, National Technical University of Athens, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Dynergie, Recoy, CFD Numerics and Mytilineos . The next phase of the project will be carried out under an exclusive partnership between ArcelorMittal and John Cockerill.

Volteron is a carbonless electrolysis process that extracts iron from iron ore using electricity. In a pilot plant, the process proved to be very efficient using standard iron ore. The iron plates created during the electrolysis process are then transformed into steel in an electric arc furnace.