Flexible solar-to-iron system: a new concept and its implementation

Green electricity from solar energy has achieved rapid development. However, solar power is intermittent and fluctuating, whereas industrial productions are generally continuous. To overcome the contradiction, either expensive large-scale energy storage technologies are deployed, or new industrial production processes are developed to adapt to the intermittent characteristics of solar energy. This approach may be referred to as the flexible production mode. Here, we propose a solar-to-iron flexible production system, which includes electrochemical ironmaking and iron-based energy power systems (iron–air batteries and iron powder combustion). The flexible electrochemical ironmaking system produces iron in the sunshine when there is renewable electricity and is also able to standby in the dark. The produced iron could be delivered for common needs or releases energy again by iron–air batteries or iron powder combustion. Such a loop may transform the current ironmaking technologies, reduce carbon dioxide emission, and accommodate peak-shaving/load-shifting concurrently.