Electra is a start-up company that has received backing and support from Bill Gates and Amazon, in order to help the company open up the world’s first ‘green’ steel production plant. This plant is a huge breakthrough, which plans to transform high-impurity ores into clean metallic iron. The Colorado-based start-up also plans to use renewable energy throughout this innovative process.

The predominant focus behind this initiative is to cut carbon emissions with their ‘green’ steel, which will be a significant improvement in comparison to the emissions rate of current steel manufacturing techniques. This ability to reduce carbon emissions, is one of the reasons why Electra has called its product ‘green’ steel.  Normally ironmaking is responsible for 90% of the Co2 emissions produced in the steelmaking process, however through the company’s choice to use renewable energy resources to make emissions-free iron, this process shows potential to significantly reduce the amount of Co2 emitted. Another reason they chose this name, was due to cost-related issues when it comes to the production of steel. The company has stated that they hope that their ‘steelmaking process can slash the environmental cost of steel production.’

The clean iron that Electra produces is 99% pure and this mean that the purity offers the highest value for electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmakers, when they choose to use recycled scrap steel. Electra CEO and co-founder Sandeep Nijhawan commented on this, saying, “Clean iron produced from a wide variety of ore types is the key constraint to decarbonizing the steel industry sustainably.”

Now that this plant has been established, future plans are already underway, with the first one being for the project to aim to produce clean iron plates in a 3.3-foot square size. Once this is accomplished, the company has said they will look into increasing this gradually.

The company is being supported by investors and is so far making excellent progress along their desired route.

Electra CTO and co-founder Quoc Pham commented, “While the road ahead is long, the arc of our progress is fast.”