Background Iron powder appears to be a promising solution for long-term energy storage and (inter-) continental transport, as it is safe to store and does not require energy to maintain its state, unlike, for instance, liquefied hydrogen. However, while the fundamental research is well underway, large-scale implementation is still in its early stages, with a growing number of promising demonstrators emerging. Methods This article contributes to the large-scale implementation of iron as an energy carrier by presenting a round-robin test of four iron powders currently used in research and larger-scale demonstrators. These powders were tested on their safety characteristics in the standard 20 L apparatus across eight European countries. Results The resulting data are intended to support future standardization efforts using different iron samples as standardized fuel. All tested powders were classified either as non-explosible or as belonging to the category of marginally explosible dusts (Class 1). This provides a clear picture of the level of explosion protection measures that need to be considered for the safe use of iron powders in energy carrier applications. Conclusions Along with that, the study detected variations in the results and pointed to shortcomings in the current standards that may cause such discrepancies. These findings emphasize the importance of improving testing procedures to support standardization and ensure the safe use of iron powder as an energy carrier using an a-priori-approach rather than subsequent testing.
A first step towards a standardized iron fuel: Safety characteristics of several pure iron powders
(2025)
While the use of iron powder as a dense energy carrier has clear advantages over other carriers such as hydrogen and ammonia in terms of health and safety, risks may still emerge from the powder if accidentally dispersed in air during handling, transport and storage. Since the safety characteristics of dusts are affected by, among others, its particle size distribution, chemical properties and moisture content, it is hard to implement safety measures and select the most promising reduction method without a prior explosion testing. Various production and reduction methods are currently being investigated, each producing a morphologically different type of powder. In one of the key databases on safety characteristics of dusts from the Federation of the Statutory Accident lnsurance of Germany, the maximum explosion pressure ranges from non-explosible (=0) to 5.1 bar and the deflagration index goes up to 111 bar*m /s. In this work the safety characteristics of four different iron dusts, produced via three different reduction methods, are investigated using a 20-Liter sphere according to ISO/IEC 80079–20-2:2016–12 (explosibility). Three of the dusts were found to be explosible and were further tested according to EN 14034–1 (maximum explosion pressure) and EN 14034–2 (maximum rate of pressure rise). Though they were found explosible they were all categorized in dust class St1 as mildly explosible. The morphology of the powder was analyzed before the explosion tests using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The particle size distribution was also determined. Since the chemical properties and the moisture content are known, the findings may be applicable to implementation at larger scale without prior testing of every powder.
Iron powder appears to be a promising solution for long-term energy storage and (inter-) continental transport, as it is safe to store and does not require energy to maintain its state, unlike, for instance, liquefied hydrogen. However, while the fundamental research is well underway, large-scale implementation is still in its early stages, with a growing number of promising demonstrators emerging.
This article contributes to the large-scale implementation of iron as an energy carrier by presenting a round-robin test of four iron powders currently used in research and larger-scale demonstrators. These powders were tested on their safety characteristics in the standard 20 L apparatus across eight European countries. The resulting data are intended to support future standardization efforts using different iron samples as standardized fuel. All tested powders were classified either as non-explosible or as belonging to the category of marginally explosible dusts (Class 1). This provides a clear picture of the level of explosion protection measures that Need to be considered for the safe use of iron powders in energy carrier applications.
Along with that, the study detected variations in the results and pointed to shortcomings in the current standards that may cause such discrepancies. These findings emphasize the importance of improving testing procedures to support standardization and ensure the safe use of iron powder as an energy carrier using an a-priori-Approach rather than subsequent testing.
