Ironic

The Problem

Iron and nickel production generates over 2.7 billion tonnes of CO₂ every year, from cars and aircraft to everyday items like umbrellas. Even as we electrify transport and energy, the metals at the foundation of our world remain some of the most polluting to make.

The Solution

Our low-temperature alkaline electrolysis cell replaces the blast furnace with an efficient, renewable-powered process that:

Removes nearly all CO₂ emissions from production

Uses half the energy of traditional routes

Works with lower-grade ores and mine waste, extending mine life and reducing new extraction

Scales modularly from pilot to 300,000 t per year

Our Partners

Applications

Automotive:

Reducing up to 35–40% of EV manufacturing emissions by supplying zero-carbon iron and nickel for bodies, motors, and batteries.

Aerospace:

Producing high-purity feedstock for superalloys, with potential to eliminate energy-intensive post-processing steps like VIM or VAR.

Advanced Manufacturing:

Enabling next-generation powder metals and additive manufacturing with high-performance, sustainable feedstocks.

Our Team

Jim Hickey

CTO

7 years in deep-tech and hardware startups, specialising in materials innovation

Led R&D team of 5 at tech tech SME for 4 years; drove 40% of annual revenue

Ph.D. in Steel Metallurgy (Imperial College London)

Milke Woodcock

CEO

7 years at Advanced Electric Machines, as StrategyDirector, CCO and CINO

2 years at the Advanced Propulsion Centre coordinating >600 OEMs, SMEs and Academic partners

20 years at Tata SteelR&D, delivering £165m of grant funding

Paul Boldrin

Electrochemist

20 years experience in practical research of electrolysers and other electrochemical devices

Authored >30 academic papers, one book and several review articles

Informed policy and investment briefings on fuel cells, electrolysers and industrial decarbonisation

Mark Clapp

R&D Engineer

4 years' experience inPEM water electrolysis at Johnson Matthey

Experienced in metal oxide catalyst design, synthesis, and testing using advanced electrochemical techniques

Two published papers and talks at severa linternational conferences

Decarbonising metal production with low-temperature electrolysis

Ironic Metals is developing a breakthrough electrolysis process to produce high-purity iron and nickel at half the energy intensity of a blast furnace - without the CO₂.