Steel is the most common structural material used in everything around us; buildings, cars, and machinery to name a few. It is a necessary, but hazardous industry. Steel production accounts for 7-9% of all global CO2 emissions annually.

While technology has seen major advancements across industries, the process of steelmaking has remained much the same for thousands of years. Mix iron and coal within a blast furnace to create molten iron. Followed by a process to remove impurities, which results in a significant amount of carbon byproduct. With the continuing growth of steel production, a major contributor to the climate crisis, we are left to wonder who will be tackling the next generation of changes in this industry?

Boston Metal is a startup with the answer. The team is transforming the steel industry with their groundbreaking technology aimed at producing steel in a greener and cheaper way. Spun out of MIT, the patented technology, Molten Oxide Electrolysis (MOE), replaces the traditional processes by using direct electric current to separate chemical compounds. The method produces liquid iron with a byproduct of oxygen instead of carbon, a cleaner, and simpler process.

The engineering team at Boston Metal is no stranger to the challenges startups face, limited time and resources, with huge milestones to hit. A Model-Based Design approach with MATLAB and Simulink enables the small team to work efficiently. By building a full dynamic model of the system the controls team can model and test the system against the digital twin, ensuring that when the team is ready to turn the system on, it works.

Hear more from the Boston Metal team in this month’s startup short!