Could this be?? # 2 A way of avoiding the extremely toxic " hexavalent chromium?"
Hexavalent chromium(chromium(VI), Cr(VI), chromium 6) is chromium in any chemical compound that contains the element in the +6 oxidation state (thus hexavalent). Virtually all chromium ore is processed via hexavalent chromium, specifically the salt sodium dichromate. Hexavalent chromium is key to all materials made from chromium. Approximately 136,000 tonnes (150,000 tons) of hexavalent chromium were produced in 1985.[1]
** since all chromite ore when heated in blast furnaces produce this toxin , does KWG's direct reduction eliminate this toxin?
KWG NATURAL GAS CHROMIUM IP DIRECT REDUCTION IN A SOLID STATE
The impact of KWG Resources new process on future processing is therefore regarded as highly significant, with global energy reductions equivalent to the effect of completely eliminating energy demand from a country the size of Italy.
KWG’s new natural gas CHROMIUM IP, low temperature, ‘solid state’ reduction process, has enormous global competitive advantages in terms of reduced capital cost, reduced operating cost, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
The potential for KWG’s Chromium IP process to completely revolutionize the world’s ferrochrome industry should not be underestimated. Its impact reaches far beyond exploitation of a regional natural resource.
The patent-pending refining method yields a ferrochrome alloy (by reduction in solid-state without melting, in a reaction with natural gas).
In addition to benefits of the new reduction process itself, test work performed on Ring of Fire ores confirm that the Ring of Fire ores are generally more reducible, resulting in a 15-20% increase in unit capacity, compared to currently processed ores in other parts of the world.
Further, the chromium-iron alloy pellet product produced, can form part of the charge of conventional SAF furnaces producing ferro chrome, as batch or continuously charged components of the steel making process.
Metallised product would obtain a smelter capacity increase of 50% without any additional capital expenditure, reducing their effective capital cost from $1200 per annual ton to $800.
This dictates that a very substantial premium to the charge-chrome price may be commanded by this ferrochrome, which may also be readily purified to even higher-value ultra low-carbon ferrochrome, by argon-oxygen decarburization (AOD).
The opportunity to partner in piloting and commercializing KWG’s proprietary gas-reduction process can thus be exchanged for off-take terms with selected steel makers and AOD operators in China, Japan, Korea, and India, as they will all wish to participate in the advantages of highest purity, lowest cost and lowest emissions.
THE TORSTEIN ABSTRACT: LOWER CAPITAL COSTS & REDUCED OPERATING COSTS
“Reducing energy consumption by alternative processing routes to produce ferrochromium alloys from chromite ore“, a “game changing” abstract, delivered at the Torstein Utigard Memorial Symposium COM in 2015, reveals elements of a techno-economic study on this revolutionary new chromite reduction process. The study identifies a reduction in overall energy consumption of 70% against conventional processing and approximately 40% lower than the current best practice.
By utilizing more natural gas than coal based energy sources, the KWG process is able to show an overall 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared with the most energy efficient current practice.
“The combinations of cheap natural gas and large quantities of high grade chromite in Northern Ontario have the potential to completely revolutionize the market for chrome units into stainless steel manufacture.”
I dont know for sure, but i do know that saving the electricity that a country the size of Italy/ annum is substancial.