Prepare a Research Proposal on Sustainable Metal Production with Zero-Carbon Emissions

One of the biggest problems in modern extractive metallurgy is the recycling and re-mining of bauxite residue (a.k.a red mud). Bauxite residue is treated as a hazardous by-product in the aluminum industry, but it's still full of untapped strategic metals which are critical to the defense, automotive, electronics and biotech industries. In this Build Project, you will assume a research/development role and will be tasked to suggest novel chemistries for our team’s challenge. Under the supervision of an experienced Build Fellow, you will apply materials thermodynamics and kinetics to design alloys, slags and electrolyte systems of relevant chemistries. This project will give you a soft introduction to metal production and the exciting world of sustainability-focused startups. In the end, you will taste the spirit of being an awesome materials (or metallurgical) engineer and be able to describe process flow diagrams (PFDs) including key metrics of your suggested chemistries and methods. During the project, you will become familiar with industry-standard tools and techniques: Ellinghams diagrams, various phase diagrams related to metals, oxides and halides systems, kinetic models, metal production techniques, etc.