Our Technology, FIC
FIC: Fast Iron Carbonylation
Two Planet Steel’s research and development is focused on Fast Iron Carbonylation (FIC). The company’s recent government-funded research also explored our technology’s potential for producing carbonyl iron powders (CIP). After successfully completing a prototype, Two Planet Steel’s initial tests show that FIC is at least 10x faster than current methods of CIP production. With further development we expect this improvement to increase. Because of this exceptional efficiency and the wide range of applications for CIP, Two Planet Steel’s tech can have an enormous impact, both for already existing applications and those in development.
FIC's Main Application - Making Mars Steel
Two Planet Steel’s focus with our FIC technology is making clean, zero-emissions steel on Earth and Mars. Learn more about our technology’s use here:
FIC: Other Applications
While our focus on Mars Steel is exciting, the applications for FIC extend far beyond this sector. Some of our other areas of interest include ore mining processing, industrial waste processing, NCM lithium ion battery manufacture, making magnetic materials for power conversion units in electric cars, powder metallurgy, and 3D printing.
These other applications may be pursued in the future when FIC is a highly optimized manufacturing process.
FIC Prototype
A small detail from the reactor
Technology Development Update
Two Planet Steel successfully ran its prototype FIC (Fast Iron Carbonylation) reactor for the first time. Three test runs were completed, with the first, lowest pressure test started at 7.30 pm on Saturday February 8th and continued through to the following Sunday. The third and fastest run was carried out on Tuesday February 11th. This fastest prototype test consumed 4.5 kilograms of iron filings in just six and a half hours. The carbonylation did not stall through carbon nanoparticle deposition or any of the other known carbonylation suppressing mechanisms. The runs extracted all the available iron. In contrast, older, state-of-the-art carbonylation reactors in China and Germany have 60-120 hour runs and these only extract 65 – 75% of the available iron.