Steel is one of the world’s most widely produced and consumed alloys, and its production has grown substantially to nearly 1.9 Bts, contributing about 7–9 per cent of global CO2 emissions due to its heavy reliance on the blast furnace ironmaking process. There is growing pressure on steel producers to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the steelmaking processes. Achieving the net-zero emissions goal will require low-carbon or carbon-neutral steelmaking routes. To address this, the sector constantly explores direct reduced iron (DRI) as an alternative iron source for steelmaking. Natural gas or hydrogen is commonly used to produce DRI, which can make DRI more environmentally friendly than the conventional blast furnace route, which relies on coke. However, one of the challenges associated with this route is the formation of fayalite (Fe2SiO4). Fayalite forms when FeO reacts with SiO2 during iron ore reduction. A review by Heidari et al (2021) stated that the formation of FexSiyOz is faster at high temperature. There were concerns about fayalite formation in the DRI making process, such as flash reduction, as it is operating at high temperature (eg Calix’s ZESTY at 600 to 1050°C) when silica-rich ores are used. Understanding its formation mechanism is crucial, particularly for low-grade iron ores with high levels of SiO2. In this study, both literature review and thermodynamic calculations were employed to understand the formation of fayalite during iron ore reduction.