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Prepare a research proposal on sustainable metal production with zero-carbon emissions – and get a chance to actually make a piece of ferroalloy.
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.
Get to know the Build Fellow and other students, ask questions about the project requirements, prepare your workspace.
Learn the development history of iron/steel and ferroalloys production / Create a brief literature review on provided materials.
Understand how to read Ellingham Diagrams / Develop your own Ellingham Diagrams relevant to selected research topics.
Understand how to interpret phase diagrams related to metal production / Develop your own systems of alloy and slag relevant to selected research topic.
Understand and apply reaction kinetics and proposed mechanisms.
Exercise selection of materials relevant to your selected research topic / Evaluate the technical feasibility of your selected research topic.
Use mass balance calculations and CAPEX/OPEX estimation to construct your proposed process / Deliver mass balance calculations, PFDs, CAPEX/OPEX estimations.
Polish your project deliverables and present them to the Build Fellow and other students in the final group session.
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We'll notify you when projects reopen. In the meantime, you can explore our resources and learn more about our Fellows.
Peace is a Materials Engineering Build Fellow at Open Avenues, where he works with students leading projects in Materials Science and Engineering – Metal Production.
Peace is a Senior Research Scientist at Phoenix Tailings where he works on development of novel chemistries related to sustainable metal production without carbon emissions. Peace has 6+ of years of experience in ferrous and nonferrous chemical metallurgy with carbonless and byproduct recycling techniques. Peace has significant experience in the production Group 4 elements (Titanium, Zirconium and Hafnium) and developed 2 international patents related to clean metal production without carbon emissions. He holds a PhD degree in Materials Science and Engineering.
A fun fact about Peace: He’s a genius inventor for metal-related activities but terrible at making coffee.