The key to allowing this process to be performed at low temperature appears to be the use of sodium hydroxide as the electrolyte: https://iopscience.iop.org/ar

The key to allowing this process to be performed at low temperature appears to be the use of sodium hydroxide as the electrolyte: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/MA2020-02191562mtgabs/meta https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/MA2020-02191562mt... The more well-known approach, performed by Boston Metal which the article mentions, was to use molten iron oxide. I would figure the major question is whether the cost and handling difficulties of NaOH can be overcome. Google shows a bulk price of around $500/ton for NaOH, though its price has spiked recently. This is roughly double the price of pig iron (the first reduction product). So to make this process economical, you need to do a good job of not contaminating (hence replacing) your electrolyte. That's probably why they needed to work with particular grades of iron oxide. NaOH is contaminated by such mundane things as carbon dioxide, silicates, alumina, etc. Hopefully they can figure this out.