Business
The green steel firms looking to revive US steel making
Chris BaraniukTechnology Reporter
Boston MetalAn activity centre for babies and toddlers, an Indian restaurant, an indoor golf centre – and a mini experimental steel plant. These businesses are among those that make up a small retail and industrial estate in the city of Woburn, Massachusetts.
“People are dropping off their kids. That kind of shows you an extreme example of what the future of steel looks like,” says Adam Rauwerdink, vice president of business development at US-based green steel start-up, Boston Metal. “You can be making steel and sharing a parking lot with a daycare.”
Boston Metal has come up with a way of using electricity to remove oxides and other contaminants from iron ore, which is the substance you have to mine from the Earth before you can make new steel.
The process involves distributing the ore within an electrolyte and then using electricity to heat this mixture to 1,600C. Molten iron then separates from impurities and can be tapped off.
Traditionally, extracting that all-important iron from ores requires blast furnaces that run on fossil fuels. But the iron and steel industry are responsible for 11% of global emissions – a huge amount, equivalent to all the world’s private cars and vans – and so now a race is on to find greener ways of producing these important metals.
US companies are, arguably, at the forefront. Steelmaking in the US is already greener than in many countries, thanks to the popularity of electric arc furnaces there. These furnaces use electricity, not heat from burning fossil fuels, to melt scrap steel – for example – and recycle it.
Plus, a handful of emerging start-ups such as Boston Metal say they can go one better and use electricity for the iron-making process, a crucial step in making brand new, or virgin, steel.
However, the Trump administration has taken a less than enthusiastic stance towards renewable energy and decarbonisation projects. It remains to be seen whether these new start-ups will make a big, molten splash in the steel industry any time soon.
Switching from traditional blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces can lower carbon emissions per tonne of steel produced from 2.32 tonnes of CO2 to 0.67 tonnes of CO2.
For iron-making, some plants could use green hydrogen – made using electricity from 100% renewable sources – says Simon Nicholas, lead steel analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
But switching iron and steel-making plants over to green hydrogen hasn’t gone as smoothly as some had expected.
In June, Cleveland-Cliffs, a major US steel producer, appeared to back away from its plans to build a $500m (£375m) hydrogen-powered steel plant in Ohio. The BBC has contacted Cleveland-Cliffs for comment.
“We’re seeing projects cancelled, proponents pulling out of projects all over the place,” says Mr Nicholas, of green hydrogen initiatives, specifically.
Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPlus, there is a limit to how much steel-making can rely on electric arc furnaces since they currently largely rely on a supply of scrap steel.
A relatively low supply of scrap steel in China, versus demand, has slowed the rollout of electric arc furnaces there, according to some analyses.
These headaches would suggest that there is a niche for companies developing alternative ways of making iron and steel. Boston Metal is one.
“It looks a lot like how we make iron and steel today – it’s a lot easier to conceive how that would get to scale [as a result],” says Paul Kempler, an expert in electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering at the University of Oregon.
However, he notes that there are still challenges in ensuring that electrolysis systems like this don’t corrode too quickly over time. Boston Metal says it hopes to have its first demonstration-scale steel plant operational by 2028.
ElectraSeparately, the US firm Electra is taking a different approach to producing highly purified iron from ores. Unlike Boston Metal, Electra’s process runs at a relatively low temperature, around 60-100C. First, iron ore is dissolved into an acidic solution and then an electrical charge causes the iron to collect onto metal plates. This is similar to the process currently used for making sheets of copper and zinc today.
“These plates are extracted automatically out of the solution and the iron is harvested,” says Sandeep Nijhawan, co-founder and chief executive. A demonstration plant in Colorado, which could produce 500 tonnes of iron annually, is currently set to open next year.
Initially, iron produced in this manner would cost more than iron made using traditional techniques. But that “green premium” could fall away should the company be able to scale sufficiently, says Mr Nijhawan.
Bloomberg via Getty ImagesMr Nicholas says that emerging technologies such as this are hopeful, but one challenge they face is in breaking into the market in a big way within just a few years, since the need to slash emissions and curb climate change is become more and more urgent: “We’re running short of time for addressing carbon emissions.”
Companies such as Electra and Boston Metal offer a completely different vision of the steel-making industry but they won’t get far without further investment – and a market that appreciates what they are doing.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel imports to the US are supposedly designed to protect the domestic steel industry – and yet they risk raising the cost of steel substantially for US customers.
I ask whether Dr Rauwerdink, for one, is happy to see this move, or not. “We’re quite happy to see the strong focus on critical metals,” he says, arguing the tariffs are “beneficial” for Boston Metal.
Though he acknowledges that US government’s attitude towards renewable electricity, which Boston Metal says it want to prioritise as an energy source, has changed lately. And, globally, keeping the cost of renewable energy low is important for any firm hoping to electrify industries previously dominated by fossil fuels.
“The industry has growing pains there, for sure,” he says.
Business
Indias Forex Reserves Rise $3.5 Billion To $694.2 Billion In Latest Week, Supported By Foreign Currency Assets, Gold
New Delhi: India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 3.5 billion in the week that ended August 29 to USD 694.230 billion, driven largely by a rise in foreign currency assets and gold, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its latest ‘Weekly Statistical Supplement’.
The country’s forex kitty is hovering close to its all-time high of USD 704.89 billion touched in September 2024. For the reported week, India’s foreign currency assets (FCA), the largest component of foreign exchange reserves, stood at USD 583.937 billion, a rise of USD 1.7 billion.
The RBI data showed that the gold reserves currently amount to USD 86.769 billion, witnessing a rise of USD 1.8 billion. After the latest monetary policy review meeting, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the foreign exchange kitty was sufficient to meet 11 months of the country’s imports.
In 2023, India added around USD 58 billion to its foreign exchange reserves, contrasting with a cumulative decline of USD 71 billion in 2022. In 2024, the reserves rose by a little over USD 20 billion. So far in 2025, the forex kitty has cumulatively increased by about USD 53 billion, according to data.
Foreign exchange reserves, or FX reserves, are assets held by a nation’s central bank or monetary authority, primarily in reserve currencies such as the US Dollar, with smaller portions in the Euro, Japanese Yen, and Pound Sterling.
The RBI often intervenes by managing liquidity, including selling dollars, to prevent steep depreciation of the rupee. The RBI strategically buys dollars when the Rupee is strong and sells when it weakens.
Tata Motors Vehicles Price In India: Tata Motors on Sunday announced that it will pass on the entire benefit of the recent GST rate cut to its commercial vehicle customers. The new prices will be effective from September 22, the day the revised GST rates come into force.
“Tata Motors will pass on the full benefit of the recent GST reduction on its entire commercial vehicle range to customers, effective September 22, the date the revised GST rates come into effect,” the company said in a statement.
The price cuts will vary across different vehicle categories. Heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs) will see a reduction ranging between Rs 2.8 lakh and Rs 4.65 lakh. Intermediate, light, and medium commercial vehicles (ILMCVs) will become cheaper by Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.
Buses and vans will see reductions between Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 4.35 lakh. Small commercial passenger vehicles (SCVs) will get price cuts between Rs 52,000 and Rs 66,000, while SCVs and pickups will become cheaper by Rs 30,000 to Rs 1.1 lakh. The company said the GST on commercial vehicles has been reduced to 18 per cent, a move that it believes will help revive India’s transport and logistics sector.
Girish Wagh, Executive Director of Tata Motors, said the decision reflects the government’s commitment to strengthening the country’s economic backbone. He added that Tata Motors is proud to extend the full GST benefit to customers, ensuring lower costs and better access to modern vehicles.
Tata Motors highlighted that commercial vehicles play a crucial role in India’s growth by driving logistics, trade, and connectivity. With the GST reduction, the company expects the total cost of ownership for transporters, fleet operators, and small businesses to come down.
This will encourage faster fleet modernisation and wider adoption of advanced, cleaner mobility solutions, helping operators cut costs, improve efficiency, and boost profits. The company has also encouraged customers to book vehicles early to take advantage of the reduced prices during the upcoming festive season.
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