[ Nickel / Deepsea Mining ]
Reduction with H2 plasma The environmental footprint of metal production from deep-sea ores would therefore be significantly smaller using the Max Planck team’ s process.“ We reduce the dried ores with a hydrogen plasma directly in an electrically operated arc furnace,” explains Ubaid Manzoor, who carried out the experiments as part of his doctoral research. The researchers are already able to recover almost all of the copper as pure metal by melting the ore and then allowing the molten metal to cool slightly. As soon as they allow hydrogen to flow into the furnace, an alloy of copper, nickel and cobalt, among other elements, is produced alongside various manganese oxides, some of which can be used in batteries. The proportions in the alloy vary depending on the duration of the reduction. is shaping the future with the
[ Nickel / Deepsea Mining ]
Reducing deep-sea ores with hydrogen plasma produces an alloy containing nickel and cobalt, among other elements. Copyright: U. Manzoor, Max-Planck- Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien GmbH
an efficient and low-CO2 process in the journal Science Advances, in which copper, nickel and cobalt can be extracted from deep-sea ore by smelting and reducing it with hydrogen. The method is significantly more sustainable than the process used by the Canadian company TMC for the reduction of deep-sea ores with carbonbased compounds in its Nori-D project. Using hydrogen for reduction cuts CO2 emissions by more than 90 per cent if green hydrogen and renewable electricity are used. The Max Planck team’ s approach also requires almost 20 per cent less energy and fewer process steps.
No deforestation, significantly less waste“ The extraction of these nodules in the deep sea also leaves an environmental footprint,” says Dierk Raabe, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials.“ That’ s why I was against exploiting these resources just a few years ago, so we wouldn’ t repeat the same mistakes we made on land.” In the meantime, however, the materials scientist has become open to the idea of deepsea mining – at least if it is carried out in the most environmentally responsible way possible. His view has changed for several reasons, not least because the extraction of metals from deepsea ores would not involve child labour and would result in far less deforestation and far less waste. For example, the production of the metals for 1 billion electric car batteries would generate 9 billion tonnes of rock waste if the materials were extracted from deep-sea ores, while 63 billion tonnes of unusable rock would have to be dumped if they were extracted from deposits on land. This is what researchers at the University of Delaware have calculated.
“ The process emits 90 per cent less CO2 and requires almost a fifth less energy than the conventional coal-based reduction method.”
Reduction with H2 plasma The environmental footprint of metal production from deep-sea ores would therefore be significantly smaller using the Max Planck team’ s process.“ We reduce the dried ores with a hydrogen plasma directly in an electrically operated arc furnace,” explains Ubaid Manzoor, who carried out the experiments as part of his doctoral research. The researchers are already able to recover almost all of the copper as pure metal by melting the ore and then allowing the molten metal to cool slightly. As soon as they allow hydrogen to flow into the furnace, an alloy of copper, nickel and cobalt, among other elements, is produced alongside various manganese oxides, some of which can be used in batteries. The proportions in the alloy vary depending on the duration of the reduction. is shaping the future with the
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