Direct Production of Fe and Fe-Ni Alloy via Molten Oxides Electrolysis

This work is aimed to study the feasibility of direct production of Fe and Fe-Ni alloy in molten oxides. The electro-deposition of Fe was performed at 1723 K using a graphite anode and Mo cathode in a CaO-MgO-SiO2-Al2O3-Fe2O3 bath, and successfully obtained the pure iron at the Mo cathode. Meanwhile, galvanostatic electrolysis for Fe-Ni alloy was also attempted in the molten CaO-MgO-SiO2-Al2O3-Fe2O3-NiO system. The results also proved that the direct production of Fe-Ni alloys were feasible. (C) 2017 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.