[ Nickel / Deepsea Mining ]
[ Nickel / Deepsea Mining ]
Ores mined in the deep sea( left) can be reduced with a hydrogen plasma in an electric arc furnace, after drying. This produces manganese oxides and a manganese- and silicon-containing slag, as well as an alloy containing nickel and cobalt. Copyright: U. Manzoor, Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien GmbH
“ Because we can separate copper first, it becomes easier to process the remaining alloy,” explains Manzoor. In an earlier study, Manzoor and his team of researchers had already presented a very similar process that can be used to extract nickel from ores mined on land in a climatefriendly way.
Contributing to LCA of deep-sea mining Whether deep-sea mining will one day replace land-based mining remains the subject of international negotiations.“ With our work, we want to provide a sustainable method for extracting critical metals from deep-sea nodules and the data needed for informed decisions, considering the environmental impacts from both mining of the ores and processing of the ores”, says Manzoor. And for Raabe, one thing is clear:“ If we want to move away from a CO2-intensive economy, we will have to accept some bitter pills.”