The steel industry, a cornerstone of modern civilization, faces significant challenges. As one of our most used materials, steel and its production is a massive global enterprise — with over 1.8 billion metric tons produced annually. However, this industry is also a massive polluter — responsible for approximately 11 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas output. Traditional steelmaking processes, which rely heavily on carbon-intensive equipment such as blast furnaces, emit around 1.8 tons of CO2 for every ton of steel produced. Additionally, the quality of iron ore — a primary raw material — is declining globally, leading to more energy-intensive and costly extraction and refinement processes.

Enter Israeli startup Helios, a company leading the transformation of this carbon-intensive industry. Co-founded by CEO Jonathan Geifman, Helios originally set out to solve the challenges associated with space exploration but found itself with a solution to address Earth’s pressing environmental issues — particularly, in the steel industry.

A journey from space to Earth

Geifman’s journey into the world of steel production is anything but conventional.

“My official background has nothing to do with what I’m doing today,” Geifman tells Sustainable Brands® (SB).

After nearly a decade in the Israeli armed forces, his passion for space led him to co-found Helios — which initially focused on lunar resource extraction.

“I’m a space geek and it’s always been something I’ve wanted to pursue,” Geifman explains. “I wanted to know why we haven’t done more as a species since astronauts last landed on the moon in 1972. What’s happened since then? Why haven’t we been back? Why are there no bases on the moon? Is it just funding? Geopolitics? Lack of technology?”

He found that the answer was multifaceted — there were significant technical and logistical challenges that had hindered progress. One issue was the sheer complexity and cost of sending essential resources, such as oxygen, from Earth to sustain lunar missions. Therefore, Geifman realized that producing oxygen directly from lunar regolith (the Moon’s surface material) could drastically cut costs and facilitate deeper space exploration. This discovery led him and his team to focus on developing technologies that could leverage lunar resources efficiently.

“We learned that oxygen is going to be by far the most needed consumable on the Moon, primarily for burning propellant,” he says. “Therefore, if you can produce that oxygen on-site — rather than sending everything from Earth — you can save billions of dollars. The most accessible oxygen on site is in the minerals on the ground.”

While originally intended to support life and propulsion on the Moon, Helios’s technology soon revealed its potential for an application on Earth: the steel industry. The core of its innovation involved a method for extracting oxygen from lunar soil, which could also be used to improve iron production here on Earth. By adapting this lunar technology, Helios discovered a novel way to produce iron without the high carbon emissions typical of traditional steelmaking processes. This breakthrough led Helios to pivot its focus to explore how its technology could transform iron production to address environmental challenges in the steel industry.

Reinventing iron production

Iron production has remained largely unchanged for millennia, relying heavily on carbon to extract iron from its ore. This method, while effective, releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

“Traditional steelmaking process starts with iron ore, which is essentially iron chemically bound to oxygen. This iron ore is then fed into a blast furnace, where it is subjected to extremely high temperatures. To separate the oxygen from the iron, carbon is injected into the furnace. The carbon reacts with the oxygen in the ore, effectively pulling the oxygen away from the iron. What you’re left with is liquid iron — which is then used to produce steel — and carbon dioxide, which is released into the atmosphere as a byproduct,” Geifman explains.

Helios has developed a process that substitutes carbon with sodium, a common and abundant element found in table salt. This approach, called the Helios Cycle, operates at significantly lower temperatures — 250-350°C, similar to typical kitchen oven temperatures — compared to the 1,200-2,000°C required by traditional steelmaking methods.

By replacing the carbon with sodium to extract oxygen from iron ore, the Helios Cycle eliminates CO2 emissions and operates more efficiently — reducing both energy use and production costs by 30 percent — making it a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative to conventional steel production.

The steel industry’s challenge isn’t just emissions — it’s also the declining quality of iron ore. In response, Giefman says the mining industry uses a costly, carbon- and energy-intensive process called beneficiation to upgrade ore quality.

Helios’ technology allows for the processing of lower-quality ores — those typically considered unsuitable for use in traditional methods, due to their lower iron content or higher impurity levels. In conventional steelmaking, these ores would need to undergo a beneficiation process. By using Helios’ process, these lower quality ores can be used directly, bypassing the need for such energy-intensive beneficiation steps.

Compared to hydrogen-based methods, which also hold great promise for decarbonizing steel production, Helios’ approach also has advantages. Hydrogen technologies struggle with high production costs, complex storage and infrastructure needs, and can still be carbon intensive. In contrast, Helios’ use of sodium is more energy-efficient, sidesteps these hydrogen-related challenges, and benefits from sodium’s wide availability and low cost — making it a more practical and scalable solution.

Scaling for impact

Helios plans to build its first pilot plant next year, capable of producing several thousand tons of iron annually, to demonstrate the technology’s viability and set the stage for commercial production. Geifman explains that after the pilot, Helios plans to start building its first commercial units — with the first expected around 2028.

In the meantime, Helios’ potential for impact continues to grow — the startup has attracted over $6M in seed funding; and just last month, the company forged a partnership with Australian steel manufacturer BlueScopeX and was named a winner in the World Economic Forum’s UpLink Sustainable Mining Challenge. Helios also recently secured its membership in the World Steel Association (WSA) — an exclusive network of the largest and most established steelmakers in the world, representing nearly 90 percent of global steel production. Membership is a mark of credibility and influence within the industry.

“We are the first and only technology company accepted as a member that is not a steelmaker — they acknowledge that The Helios Cycle is the only technology that not only decarbonizes but can commercially compete with current iron production methods,” Geifman explains.

“The global steel industry is on the brink of unprecedented transformation over the coming decades, necessitating a diverse portfolio of technologies to achieve a smooth transition to a low-emission future,” Andrew Purvis, Director of Sustainable Manufacturing at the WSA, tells SB.

Purvis explains that in the medium term, the emergence of technologies such as carbon capture, storage and hydrogen will be pivotal — and innovative and radically new technologies show significant promise.

“These include direct electrolysis and the Helios cycle, with sodium reduction being an exciting innovation with an incredible story that could potentially revolutionize steel production,” Purvis says. “Having multiple viable technologies will greatly ease the industry’s transition toward sustainability. Companies like Helios are essential to this effort, as their success will broaden the technological options available to the industry. The more options we have, the more likely a successful transformation will be — ultimately, paving the way for a more sustainable steel industry.”

A vision beyond Earth

While Helios’ immediate focus is revolutionizing steel production on Earth, the company hasn’t abandoned its space roots. Helios is still working on its original mission, developing technology for oxygen production on the Moon in partnership with DARPA under the LunA-10 Program.

“The lunar environment is unforgiving, and being sustainable there isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a must,” Geifman says. “We’re tackling carbon-intensive industries in the short term; but in the long term, we aim for an ultimate sustainable future — one where humanity’s impact on the environment is minimized, or even eliminated. It’s a multi-decade journey, but we believe the first steps need to be taken now.”