Our Technology, FIC
FIC: Fast Iron Carbonylation
Important products in everyday life such as cell phones, electric vehicles, and energy generation equipment are going to need Two Planet Steel’s new technology Fast Iron Carbonylation (FIC). At the core of these modern technologies are magnetic materials. As part of a long supply chain for these technologies, Two Planet Steel is positioned at the foundation level. Our new technology FIC produces a material at this foundational level for magnetic materials: carbonyl iron powder (CIP). This material can be used to make end products lighter, smaller, and more efficient. This is especially important for electric vehicles, where performance, energy efficiency, and size reduction are key to the industry’s success.
The company’s recent government-funded research enabled the company to build an FIC prototype and explore our technology’s potential for producing CIP. After successfully completing the 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.
Main steps of FIC & its related downstream activities
We’ll give you a bird’s eye view of the FIC process. As shown in the graphic below, using an iron feed produces two outputs from Two Planet Steel’s FIC. On the one side is carbonylation residue and the other is iron carbonyl. This iron carbonyl then goes through a decompositon process to create carbonyl iron powder. The CIP is then used as an ingredient for making next-generation magnetic materials, called SMCs.
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.
Last updated 02.12.2025