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Iron powder: At first glance, it may seem like a simple material, but it has a lot of potential. You can think of it as a kind of sustainable battery. The powder can store energy from renewable sources such as the sun and wind. When the powder is burned, the energy is released again as heat. What remains is an empty but reusable ‘battery’ in the form of rust.

Pioneer of the development

Dutch inventor De Goey was one of the pioneers of this development. “About fifteen years ago, almost no one had heard of iron powder as an energy source. In 2025, that will be very different: several companies and research institutions are fully committed to this promising technology.”

De Goey is not only affiliated with 777 plataforma, where he also founded Team. Additionally, he is the founder and chairman of, an innovation center that focuses on metals as energy carriers. With Metalot, he has taken major steps toward commercializing the technology. He also helped establish several startups that are now very successful. Worldwide, a dozen startups have already been established that want to bring metal to the market as an energy carrier.

Advantages of iron powder

It is not surprising that there is so much attention for iron powder as an energy carrier, because its use and combustion do not release CO₂.

It also offers important advantages in terms of safety and circularity. Unlike other energy carriers, such as hydrogen, iron powder is not explosive. And the same iron powder can be reused endlessly, with minimal loss of raw material. This means that iron powder can be stored, recycled, and transported safely and compactly.

Experimenting in space

For De Goey, it all started about fifteen years ago. At the time, the professor was mainly focused on emerging sustainable fuels such as hydrogen, ethanol, and synthetic gases. That suddenly changed during the international ESA project Perwaves in which he participated.

“We were conducting a zero-gravity experiment,” he explains. “I was involved in studying flame propagation in mixtures of metal powder and air, and the optimal size of the metal dust for ideal combustion conditions.”

The experimental setup in which the iron powder was to burn was shot up in a rocket to an altitude of 260 km from Scandinavia. This gave researchers a few minutes to study the combustion of the powder in weightless conditions.

Discussing results

Discussions arose during the debriefing of the experiment's results. "In 2014, we met again for a few days in Noordwijk, where we discussed whether this technology could also be used for energy storage. For two days, we had intensive discussions about the advantages of iron powder as an energy carrier. After all, several storage methods already existed. But during the drive home, I suddenly realized that iron powder could be a game-changer. Mainly because I saw that hydrogen is difficult to store, whereas iron powder is not."

The idea that metal powder could be used to store energy on a large scale and for long periods, and then release it again later, stayed with him. In 2014, he decided to focus entirely on iron powder as an energy carrier. De Goey handed over his other research topics and started with a clean slate, determined to make iron powder big for energy storage.

First milestone

De Goey remembers the first major milestone well. In 2020, the Metal Power Consortium, led by Metalot, demonstrated a 100 kW system (MP100) for the first time at the Swinkels Brewery in Lieshout. “This project marked the first successful application in an industrial setting.”

Three years later, a successful long-term test of a five times larger and greatly improved system – the 1 MW MP500 – followed, again with the cooperation of Swinkels.

Several parties in the Netherlands are now working on research into and the application of iron powder as a fuel. One of the pioneers is Metalot. Both Team SOLID and the spin-off (Renewable Iron Fuel Technology) originated at 777 plataforma. In addition, companies such as  are involved in its practical application.

Developing industrial burners

De Goey has several patents to his name, including for an innovative design for a burner called Iconic. This is aimed at the stable, efficient, and clean combustion of iron powder.

"This is still a challenge, as iron powder is more difficult to burn than natural gas, for example. The system ensures that the flame remains very stable, with even lower emissions of nitrogen oxides or particulate matter," explains De Goey. He developed the burner in the wake of several highly prestigious research projects funded by the European Research Council. He received for this.

How is his burner doing now? “In the initial concepts, we tested a smaller scale of a few kilowatts,” the inventor continues. “We are currently working on improvements and scaling up to 25 kilowatts for other markets. So there's work to be done.”

A wide range of applications

What started as a solution for heavy industry has now grown into a versatile technology for sustainable energy storage. Iron powder is now also finding its way into district heating, for example. At the same time, Metalot is working on a promising answer to grid congestion: the concept of ‘holons’ – local, closed energy chains in which the production and consumption of iron powder come together.

“Think of a solar park that converts surplus electricity into iron powder, which is later used at a nearby factory. This creates a stable, self-sufficient energy hub, independent of the electricity grid.”

A brand-new energy campus

De Goey is still not tired of iron powder. Exciting things are about to happen. Metalot is moving to a new location in Maarheeze, on a site that used to be home to the Philips factories. The area covers around 14 hectares.

Everything is being demolished except for one building — and that building will become the beating heart of a new energy campus. “We want to create a place for innovation in sustainable energy, such as iron powder technology. We will move into the building on January 1, 2026.”