Boston Metal's core technology was developed by researchers at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology after professor
Donald Sadoway demonstrated the use of electrical currents to break down metal oxides in an
electrolytic cell to produce molten metal and oxygen gas. Laboratory tests revealed that Sadoway's anode material could produce steel. The team published a paper in
Nature in 2013. Boston Metal was founded that year. Tadeu Carneiro joined the company as CEO in 2017 adding more than 40 years of experience and leadership in the metals industry. He was named a Boston Globe Tech Power Player in 2023. In 2022, Boston Metal completed the first test of its semi-industrial 25,000-amp (MOE) cell, a key step in commercializing the technology. The company launched its Brazilian subsidiary focused on high-value metals production in 2022 and began construction in Brazil in
Coronel Xavier Chaves. Boston Metal currently has more than 200 employees. and its green steel solution, MOE, was recognized as one of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas. Boston Metal was named North American Company of the Year by the Cleantech Group in 2023, a 2023 Norrsken Impact/100 nominee, received the S&P Platts Global Metal Award in 2021, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance Technology Pioneer in 2020, and is currently on the Global Cleantech 100 list by the Cleantech Group.
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) announced in November 2023 that it would provide the company with funding to support the building of a new facility in
Weirton, West Virginia. The plant will manufacture critical materials needed for clean power,
fuel cells, and green steel supply chains. Boston Metal has raised over $370,000,000 as of January 2024. == Technology ==