Talk:Aluminum Extractor

Should we reconsider the choice of aluminum over iron/steel? I am still not sure why there is a need for a relatively complicated machine that uses the highest grade of energy (electricity) when a simple rotary kiln using pyrolysis gases from waste biomass could produce metallic iron, to be turned into alloys with an induction furnace. Using a magnet, high-grade iron ore can be extracted from soil, sand and river beds. --Rasmus (talk) 08:33, 28 February 2016 (CET)

Can you please add your ideas as a wiki page? I don't think anyone is implying that Aluminum Extraction is the only way to go, that just happens to be something that was researched and documented so far on the wiki. If you can research and document other approaches I think it would be really great and helpful. --Lex Berezhny (talk) 16:33, 28 February 2016 (CET)

I actually made these pages years ago, just haven't really pushed for a discussion. Relevant pages are:

• http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Direct_Reduced_Iron (techology: rotary kiln)
• http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Metal_Refining - includes a section on carbothermal reduction which could be a very small-scale, low-tech alternative to the rotary kiln.
• related: http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Heliostat - for solar carbothermal reduction
• http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Biochar/Iron_Co-Production_System - how to couple processes for 3-4 useful products (iron, biochar, heat, CO2)

--Rasmus (talk) 17:01, 28 February 2016 (CET)