Anybody who has popped a pill for tackling iron deficiency may have thought, “Why not eat iron itself?” Research at Tata Steel’s Iron Powder Development Centre has indeed made that possible.

Scientists at the centre are trying to give a surprising second life to a humble byproduct of steel making — iron powder.

The story begins with the galvanising process. When steel sheets are coated with zinc to protect them from corrosion, they undergo an acid-washing process. This generates iron-containing material, which when separated from the acid has typically found use in making red oxide pigment for paints.

Tata Steel is now trying to push this iron powder into more advanced applications. One of the most fascinating is a nutritional product: PIRONutri38, an elemental iron powder developed using Tata Steel’s patented technology.

The idea sounds almost bizarre. Iron is something we associate with bridges, machinery and skyscrapers. The thought that the same element can be part of a nutritional supplement seems counter-intuitive.

But the human body requires iron to make haemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional disorders globally, but it couldn’t be addressed by swallowing a spoonful of iron powder. To be useful as a nutritional component, the iron must be available in a form that the body can access and absorb.

According to Tata Steel, PIRONutri38 has been developed as a high-bioavailability elemental iron powder. The bioavailability indicates how much iron becomes available for the human body under the conditions of the stomach.

The chemistry behind this is crucial. For iron to be useful nutritionally, it must first dissolve in the acidic environment of the stomach, so that it can become available for absorption.

Taste test

Tata Steel says PIRONutri38 shows 100 per cent solubility under simulated gastric conditions (pH 1 in dilute hydrochloric acid) within 30 minutes, indicating that the elemental iron is readily released in such an environment.

The company also says the powder has favourable sensory properties. In consumer evaluations, more than 80 per cent of respondents rated it above 7 on a scale of 1 to 9 for parameters including appearance, taste, aroma, colour, texture, flavour and overall palatability. The last point matters because nutrition products often fail not because the science is wrong, but because people do not like consuming them. Importantly, PIRONutri38 has been evaluated by a reputed national nutrition research institution for its suitability as an iron supplement ingredient.

However, Tata Steel is not getting into the business of making edible steel. It will license the technology to any food or nutrition company and stay content with the higher revenue from the sale of its iron powder.

A steel plant may appear to be an unlikely place for discovering a solution to iron deficiency. But perhaps, that is the point. In a world increasingly obsessed with circular economy, waste from one process could become raw material for another.

Published on July 27, 2026