How extracting and producing nickel may be made extra sustainable

Manzoor, U., Mujica Roncery, L., Raabe, D. et al, ‘Sustainable nickel enabled by hydrogen-based discount’, Nature 641, 365–373 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08901-7

Nickel powers every thing, from devices to inexperienced applied sciences. However getting it at the moment includes a removed from inexperienced, in actual fact, a unclean course of. Nevertheless, a brand new examine has revealed what its authors have mentioned is a game-changing and sustainable technique to extract nickel from low-grade ores utilizing hydrogen plasma as an alternative of carbon. It’s a one-step course of freed from carbon dioxide that reportedly saves each vitality and time.

Nickel is a vital steel utilized in a number of clear vitality applied sciences, particularly Electrical Automobiles (EVs), and the demand for it’s anticipated to surpass six million tonnes a 12 months by 2040. Whereas EVs are seen as a cleaner different to conventional fossil fuel-powered autos, there are hidden environmental prices related to their manufacturing, particularly within the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries.

A significant part in these batteries is nickel and its extraction is extremely carbon-intensive. Producing only one tonne of nickel can lead to greater than 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. So whereas EVs scale back emissions throughout operation, the method of sourcing supplies like nickel merely shifts the air pollution burden from the transportation sector to the mining and processing sector, amongst others.

The methodology

The examine, printed in Nature on April 30, was carried out by researchers on the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Supplies in Düsseldorf, Germany. Within the examine, the researchers bypassed the normal multistep course of to extract nickel — which incorporates calcination, smelting, discount, and refining — and developed a single metallurgical step carried out in a single furnace. “The proposed technique has the potential to be as much as about 18% extra vitality environment friendly whereas reducing direct carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 84% in contrast with the present apply,” the paper wrote.

Ubaid Manzoor, a researcher on the Max Planck Institute and lead creator of the examine, mentioned, “Conventional nickel extraction is multi-step, energy-intensive and depends on carbon. Nickel oxide is heated with carbon, which removes the oxygen, producing pure nickel, together with carbon dioxide emissions.” The researchers have proposed changing carbon with hydrogen because the lowering agent and utilizing electrical energy because the vitality supply, particularly via an electrical arc furnace.

“In our technique, we use hydrogen plasma. Hydrogen fuel, when subjected to high-energy electrons in an electrical arc, splits into high-energy ions, coming into a plasma state — the extraordinarily scorching and reactive fourth state of matter. It’s distinct from solids, liquids, and gases. This hydrogen plasma quickly reduces the steel oxides. From a thermodynamic perspective, the method is just not solely cleaner however considerably quicker,” Mr. Manzoor mentioned. He added that the strategy is kinetically superior — that means the chemical response is extra energetically favoured — because of the extremely reactive and unstable nature of plasma.

“The tip product of hydrogen reacting with oxygen is water, not carbon dioxide. Subsequently, the complete course of is carbon-free, utilizing solely electrical energy, hydrogen, and yielding water as a byproduct,” he added.

Enabling sustainable manufacturing

The examine centered on laterite ores, a kind of soil-rich rocks that comprise metals like nickel. They kind in scorching, tropical areas when rain and warmth break down rocks over time, abandoning metal-rich layers. They’re plentiful however powerful to course of. “Whereas sulphide ores are discovered deeper underground and are simpler to course of, they’re quickly depleting. The brand new technique used within the examine works effectively on laterites, making it key to future nickel manufacturing,” Mr. Manzoor mentioned.

India has substantial nickel laterite reserves, notably in Odisha’s Sukinda area. “These deposits, containing 0.4-0.9% nickel as nickeliferous limonite in chromite mine overburden, are sometimes missed as a result of conventional strategies require higher-grade ores. However [the team’s method] excels at extracting worth from these lower-grade sources,” Dierk Raabe, professor and director of the Max Planck Institute and co-author of the examine, mentioned. He added that the know-how might play a significant function because the demand for sustainably produced supplies continues to develop.

“With out such improvements, the sustainability revolution — whether or not in electrification, renewables, or inexperienced infrastructure — dangers merely shifting the carbon dioxide and vitality burdens from one sector to a different. In different phrases, we’d construct a ‘greener’ world via EVs, photo voltaic panels, and high-performance magnets whereas nonetheless counting on carbon-intensive strategies to mine and refine the vital metals … that make all of it attainable,” he mentioned.

The inescapable demand for nickel in a number of industries and its historically carbon-intensive manufacturing pose “a selected problem for nations like India, the place fast industrial progress is crucial for financial improvement. India should concurrently meet bold local weather objectives and leverage market alternatives within the inexperienced economic system,” Mr. Raabe added.

He continued that the know-how aligns nicely with India’s twin objectives — to speed up industrialisation and infrastructure improvement whereas staying dedicated to the objective of reaching net-zero emissions by 2070. It additionally reduces the necessity to import high-grade ores and maximises the potential of home, underutilised mineral property, he added.

Some challenges

Pratik Kumar, assistant professor within the Division of Civil Engineering at IIT-Jammu and who wasn’t related to the brand new examine, mentioned this analysis might be a really applicable technique for nickel extraction from an ore, particularly when the world is pondering critically within the path of carbon neutrality. The tactic produces high-purity ferronickel — an alloy with which chrome steel may be made — eliminating the necessity for in depth refining steps and making the general course of extra sustainable on paper. “Nevertheless, the scalability of the talked about examine to an industrial manufacturing would contain sure challenges, together with a excessive preliminary funding in infrastructure and renewable vitality and limitations in ore applicability. Additionally, additional in-depth examine on thermodynamic kinetics could also be required together with a requirement for steady free oxygen species provide on the arc-melt interface,” Mr. Kumar cautioned.

“Regardless of these hurdles, the examine presents a promising, sustainable different to traditional nickel extraction strategies.”

Hirra Azmat is a Kashmir-based journalist who writes on science, well being, and atmosphere.