Electra to partner on European green-steel production 

BOULDER — Electrasteel Inc., a developer of a more-sustainable iron and steel production process that does business as Electra, has signed a memorandum of understanding with German steel trader Interfer Edelstahl Group to provide clean iron production for specialty steel manufacturing in Europe. 

“As Electra continues to scale our clean iron production, partnerships with industry leaders like Interfer are essential,” Electra CEO Sandeep Nijhawan said in a prepared statement. “Our modular system is designed for rapid deployment to meet the demand of partners and manufacturers looking to incorporate high-purity iron into their operations.”

Electra began a pilot manufacturing run this year at its Boulder facility. 

Founded by Nijhawan and chief technology officer Quoc Pham, Electra last year closed a $85 million in investment round led by Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Ventures and expanded its operations at 6400 Lookout Road in Boulder’s Gunbarrel neighborhood, encompassing more than 60,000 square feet and occupying the entire building.

The company uses an electrochemical process to refine low-grade iron ore — treated as waste in traditional refinement processes — into high-purity iron, lowering the process temperature from 1,600 to 60 degrees Celsius. Coal energy is replaced with intermittent renewable energy, and the resulting pure iron can be converted to steel.

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