Re:The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious (2014)
by dredmorbius on Tuesday May 16, 2017 @06:11PM
(#14353782)
Though any carbon feedstock can address that. For a materials standpoint, there are substitutes.
Natural gas as feedstock to the Haber-Bosch process and coking coal in steel production, for reducing ore, are both much more formidable. They account for a large fraction the consumption of both (15% in the case of coal), and substitutes are difficult.
The story of where Earth's crustal iron comes from, when, and how, particularly as banded iron formations, is another interesting story.
Natural gas as feedstock to the Haber-Bosch process and coking coal in steel production, for reducing ore, are both much more formidable. They account for a large fraction the consumption of both (15% in the case of coal), and substitutes are difficult.
The story of where Earth's crustal iron comes from, when, and how, particularly as banded iron formations, is another interesting story.
https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/5l_8MqtVwLLvX_DabPjY-g