TELF AG analyzes a new method for obtaining nickel

New sources

Among the effects of the increased production of electric vehicles at a global level is certainly an increase in demand for strategic minerals involved in their production, such as cobalt and lithium. Another particularly sought-after resource is nickel, a material that is of great importance for improving the performance and duration of the batteries that power these vehicles.

However, the increase in demand levels has also generated fear on the part of manufacturers and major global players in the sector of not being able to count on a sufficient quantity of this raw material for their industrial needs, with the risk of not being able to feed an industry, that of electric vehicles, which is emerging as one of those most involved in the energy transition.

To overcome this problem, many startups and companies worldwide are trying to find new sources of nickel to complement the traditional ones, relying on sectors that apparently have very little to do with geological raw materials and their applications.

A possible solution, from this point of view, could be linked to agriculture, and in particular to the peculiar properties of some plants, which would be able to absorb relevant quantities of some of the most requested materials for technological applications related to clean energy. The process is very simple: some specific plants able to absorb metals are grown in certain points of the soil, such as those where nickel is already present (perhaps with concentrations not high enough to justify its sourcing), and they are left to grow like any other plant.

When the plants reach their full development, they are dried and heated to promote the decomposition of organic materials, and from the ash resulting from this process it would be possible to source nickel or other metals, depending on the specific nature of the underlying deposit.

Relevant quantities

One of the plant organisms capable of ensuring this kind of absorption is Odontarrhena decipiens, a plant with yellow flowers capable of accumulating quantities of nickel equal to 2% of its total biomass. According to Viridian Resources, from a land of about 1000 hectares, up to 550 tons of nickel could be obtained for an estimated value of between 3 and 7 million dollars. This process is now being successfully used by numerous startups, which have applied it on hundreds of hectares of land to sourcing nickel.

One of these startups, Metalplant, has managed to take a further step forward, combining this method of sourcing nickel from plants with an operational strategy to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, called “enhanced rock weathering,” which involves spreading rock dust on the soil to capture CO2 and return to the soil a part of the nickel previously absorbed by the plants. This result can be achieved thanks to olivine powder, particularly its high nickel concentration, which could allow plants to absorb it more easily. The startup hopes to soon reach 400 kg of nickel per hectare, with even better prospects for the future.