Aluminum instead of coal? U.S. startup tests zero-CO₂ fuel

Boston-based startup Found Energy is preparing for the largest-ever test of aluminum as a zero-emission fuel. If successful, scrap aluminum could become a new energy source for heavy industry.

At first glance, it looks like a simple chemical experiment: a shredded soda can disappears in a cloud of steam, invisibly releasing hydrogen.

“You just need to add a bit of water for the reaction to continue,” explains Peter Godart, founder and CEO of Found Energy. “It’s room-temperature water, yet it starts boiling immediately. On a stove, it would take much longer.”

Founded in 2022 in Boston, the company is developing ways to harness the energy in used aluminum to power industrial processes without fossil fuels. Now, Found Energy is preparing to launch the world’s largest aluminum-water reactor — a device designed to supply heat and hydrogen to an American manufacturing plant.

The pilot installation will be set up in a tool factory in the southeastern U.S. Importantly, the reactor will use aluminum waste from the factory itself, making the process potentially self-sufficient.

How aluminum works as fuel

Aluminum has an exceptionally high energy density — more than twice that of diesel and nearly eight times that of hydrogen by volume. When it reacts with water or oxygen from the air, it produces aluminum oxide, releasing heat and hydrogen — clean energy carriers.

The challenge is that the reaction naturally stops: a thin oxide layer quickly forms on the metal’s surface, sealing the aluminum and preventing further reaction. Godart compares it to “a fire that extinguishes itself.”

To overcome this, Found Energy engineers developed a special liquid-metal catalyst that penetrates the aluminum’s microstructure, preventing the blocking oxide layer from forming. As a result, the metal can react continuously with water, releasing large amounts of heat and hydrogen.

“Instead of trying to speed up the reaction on the catalyst surface, we reversed the logic — we dissolved the catalyst into the aluminum itself,” Godart explains. The exact chemical composition remains secret, but the material is mercury-free and based on principles used in gallium-indium alloys.

From space concepts to industrial applications

The idea of using aluminum as fuel is not new; similar concepts were explored in the 1980s, but efficiency was too low relative to the energy required to produce the metal.

“This idea resurfaces every few years — and it has always seemed crazy,” says Geoff Scamans, a metallurgist at Brunel University, London.

Godart admits that the inspiration came literally from space. As a NASA scientist, he worked on aluminum robots that could consume their own components as fuel while exploring the icy moons of Jupiter. When the program was halted, he decided to bring the concept to Earth.

Giving scrap a new life

If Found Energy’s technology works, it could open a new market for aluminum recycling. Aluminum is one of the most recycled materials globally, but much scrap is currently re-melted, an energy-intensive and emission-heavy process.

This new approach would allow the same material to be converted directly into heat and hydrogen without re-melting. It could be particularly useful in hard-to-electrify sectors, such as cement production, steelmaking, or the chemical industry, where high-temperature heat is still a major source of CO₂ emissions.

Future energy or dead end?

Not everyone is convinced that aluminum will become the fuel of the future. Critics point to the energy and environmental cost of producing aluminum, which still requires significant electricity — often from coal. Supporters counter that if the source is scrap rather than newly refined ore, the energy balance could improve dramatically.

Source: technologyreview.com