Green steel startup Boston Metal is doubling down on critical metals

绿色钢铁初创公司 Boston Metal 加码关键金属业务

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The startup Boston Metal has raised a $75 million funding round to produce critical metals, MIT Technology Review can exclusively report. The company has been known largely for its efforts to clean up steel production, an industry that’s responsible for about 8% of global greenhouse emissions today. With the additional money, the new focus could help it survive at a time when support for industrial decarbonization has been waning in the US.

执行摘要 《麻省理工科技评论》独家报道，初创公司 Boston Metal 已完成 7500 万美元的融资，用于生产关键金属。该公司此前主要以致力于清洁钢铁生产而闻名，该行业目前约占全球温室气体排放量的 8%。在当前美国对工业脱碳支持力度减弱的背景下，这笔额外资金及其新的业务重心或将帮助公司渡过难关。

In addition to steel, Boston Metal has also worked to use its technology with other metals, and a subsidiary (Boston Metal do Brasil) is setting up a commercial facility in Brazil to produce niobium, tantalum, and tin. The funding will help support that facility’s operation as well as future efforts to produce critical metals like vanadium, nickel, and chromium, says CEO Tadeu Carneiro. The funding comes after the company faced cash-flow problems following an industrial accident at the Brazil facility earlier this year.

除了钢铁，Boston Metal 还致力于将其技术应用于其他金属。其子公司（Boston Metal do Brasil）正在巴西建立一个商业设施，用于生产铌、钽和锡。首席执行官 Tadeu Carneiro 表示，这笔资金将支持该设施的运营，以及未来生产钒、镍和铬等关键金属的计划。此前，该公司因今年早些时候巴西工厂发生的一起工业事故而面临现金流问题，此次融资正是在此背景下完成的。

Boston Metal’s core technology is called molten oxide electrolysis (MOE). It involves running electric current through a reactor filled with ore dissolved in a molten electrolyte. The electricity heats everything up to about 1,600 °C (3,000 °F) and drives chemical reactions that separate the desired metal (or metals) from the ore. The metal gathers at the bottom of the reactor, where it can be siphoned off.

Boston Metal 的核心技术被称为熔融氧化物电解（MOE）。该工艺通过向充满溶解在熔融电解质中的矿石的反应器中通入电流，将所有物质加热至约 1600°C（3000°F），从而驱动化学反应，将所需的金属从矿石中分离出来。金属会聚集在反应器底部，随后可被虹吸排出。

In early 2025, Boston Metal completed the largest run of its pilot industrial cell in Woburn, Massachusetts, producing about a ton of steel. But the focus is currently on making other metals, which are more valuable and can command a higher price. The company’s Brazilian subsidiary is working to test and start up an industrial-scale plant that takes in a low-grade material and makes a mixture of critical metals.

2025 年初，Boston Metal 在马萨诸塞州沃本完成了其试点工业电池的最大规模运行，生产了约一吨钢铁。但目前公司的重心在于生产其他价值更高、价格更昂贵的金属。其巴西子公司正致力于测试并启动一家工业规模的工厂，该工厂能够利用低品位材料生产多种关键金属的混合物。

Niobium, for example, is used in some steel alloys, as well as in alloys used to make jet engines and the superconducting magnets of MRI scanners. Tantalum is used in aerospace applications like rocket nozzles and turbine blades, as well as medical devices and electronics.

例如，铌被用于某些钢合金，以及制造喷气发动机和核磁共振扫描仪超导磁体的合金中。钽则用于火箭喷嘴和涡轮叶片等航空航天领域，以及医疗设备和电子产品中。

Construction on the Brazil plant kicked off in 2024 and took about 18 months, but the company ran into some challenges that delayed official startup. In January there was an issue with the plant’s refractory system, the equipment that insulates the reactor and prevents corrosion. That caused electrolyte to leak. Operators shut down the system and removed the metal, and there weren’t any injuries or environmental issues, Carneiro says.

巴西工厂的建设于 2024 年启动，耗时约 18 个月，但公司遇到了一些挑战，导致正式投产推迟。今年 1 月，工厂的耐火系统（用于隔离反应器并防止腐蚀的设备）出现了问题，导致电解质泄漏。Carneiro 表示，操作人员关闭了系统并清除了金属，未造成任何人员伤亡或环境问题。

But the leak did interfere with the timeline for the plant’s opening, which meant the company missed a milestone and lost out on funding that had been committed. It restructured and laid off 71 employees in April. This new funding will help support the plant moving forward. “Because of this delay, we had a big stress in our cash flow, so the investors came very strong to support us,” Carneiro says. Boston Metal is repairing the facility in Brazil now, and it should be ready to start up in September 2026, he adds.

但此次泄漏确实干扰了工厂的开工时间表，导致公司错过了里程碑节点，并失去了部分已承诺的资金。公司于 4 月进行了重组并裁员 71 人。这笔新资金将有助于支持工厂后续的发展。Carneiro 说：“由于这次延误，我们的现金流压力很大，所以投资者给予了我们强有力的支持。”他补充道，Boston Metal 目前正在修复巴西的设施，预计将于 2026 年 9 月准备就绪并投产。

The funding will also help support other critical metals projects, Carneiro says. The company plans to eventually deploy a US plant to produce chromium, a metal the country imports nearly all its supply of today. Boston Metal has now raised over $500 million in total. The latest round of funding includes support from existing investors and from the massive Indian steel company Tata Steel Unlimited.

Carneiro 表示，这笔资金还将支持其他关键金属项目。公司计划最终在美国建立一家工厂来生产铬，目前美国几乎所有的铬供应都依赖进口。Boston Metal 目前已累计融资超过 5 亿美元。最新一轮融资包括现有投资者的支持，以及印度大型钢铁公司塔塔钢铁（Tata Steel Unlimited）的注资。

Making a higher-value critical metal now could help Boston Metal prove its technology and pave the way for future steel projects, says Seaver Wang, director of climate and energy at the Breakthrough Institute. “Nobody wants to pay a green premium for steel—hence niobium,” he adds.

突破研究所（Breakthrough Institute）气候与能源主任 Seaver Wang 表示，现在生产更高价值的关键金属有助于 Boston Metal 验证其技术，并为未来的钢铁项目铺平道路。他补充道：“没人愿意为钢铁支付‘绿色溢价’——所以才选择了铌。”