Green nickel for sustainable electrification

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials have developed a carbon-free, energy-saving method to extract nickel for batteries and stainless steel

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

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Ubaid Manzoor, PhD researcher at the MPI for Sustainable Materials and first author of the Nature publication, using an electric arc furnace to reduce low-grade nickel ores with hydrogen plasma.

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Credit: MPI for Sustainable Materials

To combat climate change and achieve a climate-neutral industry, carbon emissions must be drastically reduced. A key part of this transition is replacing carbon-based energy carriers with electricity, particularly in transport and industrial applications. However, this shift heavily depends on nickel, a critical material used in batteries and stainless steel. By 2040, the demand for nickel is expected to double due to the increasing electrification of the infrastructures and transport systems. Yet, producing one ton of nickel currently emits around 20 tons of CO2, raising concerns about shifting the environmental burden from transportation to metallurgy. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI-SusMat) have now developed a carbon-free, energy-saving method for nickel extraction. Their approach also enables the use of low-grade nickel ores, which have been overlooked due to the complexity of conventional extraction processes. The Max Planck team now published their results in the journal Nature.

One single step to green nickel

“If we continue producing nickel in the conventional way and use it for electrification, we are just shifting the problem rather than solving it,” explains Ubaid Manzoor, PhD researcher at MPI-SusMat and first author of the publication. Manzoor and his colleagues have developed a new method to extract nickel from ores in a single step, using hydrogen plasma instead of carbon-based processes. This approach not only cuts CO2 emissions by 84% but is also up to 18% more energy-efficient when powered by renewable electricity and green hydrogen.

Traditionally, industry relies on high-grade ores, as extracting nickel from lower-grade ores is far more complex due to their chemically intricate composition. Unlike iron, which can be reduced in a single step by removing oxygen, nickel in low-grade ores is chemically bound within complex magnesium silicates or iron oxides. Conventional extraction involves multiple stages like calcination, smelting, reduction, and refining, which are energy-intensive and have a large carbon footprint. A major breakthrough of this method is its ability to process low-grade nickel ores (which account for 60% of total nickel reserves) in a single reactor furnace, where smelting, reduction, and refining occur simultaneously, producing a refined ferronickel alloy directly.

“By using hydrogen plasma and controlling the thermodynamic processes inside the electric arc furnace, we are able to break down the complex structure of the minerals in low-grade nickel ores into simpler ionic species – even without using catalysts”, explains Professor Isnaldi Souza Filho, head of the group “Sustainable Synthesis of Materials” at MPI-SusMat and corresponding author of the publication.

Towards industrial application

This method not only reduces emissions and energy consumption, but also broadens the spectrum of usable nickel ores, making extraction more cost-effective and sustainable. The next step for the Max Planck team is scaling up the process for industrial applications. “The reduction of nickel ores into simpler ionic species occurs only at the reaction interface, not throughout the entire melt. In an upscaled system, it is crucial to ensure that unreduced melt continuously reaches the reaction interface,” explains Manzoor. “This can be achieved by implementing short arcs with high currents, integrating an external electromagnetic stirring device beneath the furnace, or employing gas injection.” These are well-established industrial techniques, making integration into existing processes feasible.

The green nickel production route opens the door to a more sustainable electrification of the transport sector. The reduced nickel alloy can be used directly in stainless steel production and, with additional refinement, as a material for battery electrodes. Additionally, the slag produced during the reduction process can serve as a valuable resource for the construction industry, including brick and cement production. The same process can also be applied for cobalt, which is used in electric vehicles and energy storage systems.

The research was funded by an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council.

  

Comparison of conventional nickel production and the newly developed green nickel method. While conventional production involves multiple stages from ore preparation to drying steps, the newly developed method relies solely on the reactions taking place during the hydrogen plasma smelting reduction (HPSR). On the right, the reduced nickel-iron alloy is visible inside the slag after 4 minutes of hydrogen plasma reduction.

Credit

MPI for Sustainable Materials

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-025-08901-7 

Article Title

Sustainable nickel enabled by hydrogen-based reduction

Article Publication Date

30-Apr-2025

 

Researchers solve one of Earth's ancient volcanic mysteries

A new study traces a 120-million-year-old “super-eruption” to its source, offering insights into Earth’s complex geological history.

University of Maryland

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Co-lead scientists Jasper Konter and Matt Jackson look for a suitable sampling site using data of seamount collected with the research ship's sonar system. 

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Credit: Credit: Val Finlayson.

Geologists led by the University of Maryland and the University of Hawaiʻi finally connected the dots between one of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth’s history and its source deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. 

In a paper published in the journal Nature on April 30, 2025, the team revealed that the same underwater hotspot created both a chain of underwater volcanoes in the southern Pacific region and the massive Ontong-Java Plateau, the largest volcanic platform on Earth.

“Up until now, we’ve had this extremely disconnected picture of the Pacific and its volcanoes,” said the study’s corresponding author Val Finlayson, an assistant research scientist in UMD’s Department of Geology. “But for the first time, we’re able to make a clear connection between the younger southern and older western Pacific volcanic systems. It’s a discovery that gives us a more complete history of how the Pacific Ocean basin has evolved over millions of years to become what it is today.”

For years, scientists wondered whether the southern Pacific Ocean’s Louisville hotspot—an area where hot and chemically distinct material from deep inside the Earth rises to the surface to create volcanoes—formed both the underwater mountain chain bearing its name and the 120-million-year-old Ontong-Java Plateau, a submerged seafloor platform located what is now north of the Solomon Islands. Previous theories and models on how the Pacific seafloor moved attempted to explain the connection between the two major geological features but failed to provide a definitive answer.

“Much of the physical evidence for a connection between Louisville and Ontong-Java has disappeared because part of the Louisville hotspot track was subducted, or pushed, under tectonic plates in the Pacific region,” Finlayson said. “We had to sample deeply submerged volcanoes from a different long-lived hotspot track to find evidence from tens of millions of years ago that suggested our models for the Pacific plate needed revision.”

Finlayson and her team made their first breakthrough when they discovered a series of underwater mountains near Samoa that were much older than expected for volcanoes in the area. By analyzing the age and chemical makeup of ancient rock samples taken from the area, the researchers concluded that these mountains were part of a much older segment of the Louisville volcanic track, which Finlayson compared to a volcano’s “footprints.” As the Earth’s crust (tectonic plates) moves over hotspots, they form these volcanic tracks. 

“We can track these ‘footprints’ across time and space,” Finlayson explained. “The footprints get progressively older as you move away from an active hot spot, similar to how your own footprints will fade away in the sand as you walk. But you can still tell that these prints belong to the same source. Thanks to this new evidence, we were able to revise current models of Pacific plate motion and gain a better understanding of how the seafloor has moved over millions of years.”

Finlayson’s team now plans to apply their improved models to better understand other ancient volcanic features scattered across the ocean floor and above its surface. As many Pacific island nations currently sit atop volcanic platforms and underwater volcanic chains, Finlayson hopes that her work furthers understanding of the very foundations of those countries. She also believes that her team’s discovery will help scientists develop a better understanding of volcanism and geological evolution, not just in the Pacific region, but around the world.

“We’ve solved one mystery, but there are countless more waiting to be unraveled. This finding offers us a more accurate history of the Pacific and its volcanic activity and helps us understand more about the dynamics and style of volcanism that occurs there,” Finlayson said. “Everything new we learn about the Earth’s tumultuous past helps us better understand the dynamic planet we live on today.”

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The paper, “Pacific hotspots reveal a Louisville-Ontong-Java Nui tectonic link,” was published in Nature on April 30, 2025.

In addition to researchers from the UMD and the University of Hawaiʻi, co-authors include researchers from Oregon State University, University of South Carolina, University of California Santa Barbara and Brown University.

This work was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. National Science Foundation (Projects 1912934, 1912931 and 1912932; Grant No. 1560196). This story does not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations.

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Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-025-08889-0 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Article Title

Pacific hotspots reveal a Louisville–Ontong Java Nui tectonic link

Article Publication Date

30-Apr-2025

 

How do neighborhoods impact children's chances of surviving leukemia?

University of California - San Francisco

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Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are the most common pediatric cancers and among the leading causes of death in children.

To improve kids’ chances of survival, early diagnosis and prompt hospital treatment are required. ALL also requires numerous outpatient visits for consistent oral medication. The problem is getting access to such care is much harder for families in some neighborhoods and small towns, according to new research by UC San Francisco.

The study, published in Cancer, establishes new neighborhood characteristics that contribute to higher death rates in children with ALL. Lead author Lena Winestone, MD, MSHP, and her team point to these characteristics as opportunities for clinicians and policymakers to save lives.

What They Discovered
Children with ALL who live in mixed middle- and low-income neighborhoods, as well as those who live in Hispanic small towns, have a 30-40% higher risk of death compared to those in upper middle-income neighborhoods.

Compared to ALL, children with AML did not have a higher risk of death by neighborhood type. Why? Shorter AML hospital treatments and fewer outpatient visits likely reduce the challenges associated with following treatment plans for patients residing in underserved neighborhoods, according to researchers.

What Does it Mean?
The study uses a new classification of neighborhoods based on 39 unique characteristics, such as having an unhealthy food environment and lacking easy access to pharmacies and public transportation. 

Based on these characteristics, the team identified tailored interventions to decrease death rates – such as boosting reliable access to care via pharmacies and transportation to appointments. These interventions are crucial for the prolonged outpatient care requiring consistent oral medication for kids with ALL. 

Why it Matters
By ensuring every child can receive medication and make it to appointments, we can provide early, prompt, and consistent lifesaving treatment for all children regardless of ZIP code.

Authors: Lena E. Winestone, MD, MSHP, Juan Yang, MS, Tanushree Banerjee, PhD, Meera Sangaramoorthy, MS, Justine Kahn, MD, MS, Renata Abrahão, MD, MSc, PhD, Theresa H. Keegan, PhD, MS, Iona Cheng, PhD, MPH, Scarlett Lin Gomez, MPH, PhD, Salma Shariff-Marco, PhD, MPH.

Funding: This work is supported by the American Cancer Society, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the California Department of Public Health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Program of Cancer Registries; the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results. For more information on funding, please see the paper’s Acknowledgements.

Disclosures: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

About UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals are among the nation’s leading pediatric specialty hospitals, according to U.S. News & World Report  2024-25 rankings. Their expertise covers virtually all pediatric conditions, including cancer, heart disease, neurological disorders, pulmonology, diabetes and endocrinology, as well as the care of critically ill newborns. The two campuses in San Francisco and Oakland are known for basic and clinical research, and for translating research into interventions for treating and preventing pediatric disease. They are part of UCSF Health, whose adult hospital ranks among the top medical centers nationwide and serves as the teaching hospital for the University of California, San Francisco, a national leader in biomedical research and graduate-level health/sciences education. Visit https://www.ucsfhealth.org. 

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Follow UCSF
ucsf.edu | Facebook.com/ucsf | YouTube.com/ucsf

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Journal

Cancer

 

Rapid lithium extraction eliminates use of acid and high heat, scientists report

Researchers at Penn State patented the technique that cuts critical mineral extraction time, energy use and environmental impact

Penn State

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Conventional lithium extraction requires several complex steps, as well as the use of acid and high temperatures, over the course of several hours. Researchers at Penn State have developed a new approach that eliminates the need for acid or extreme temperatures and takes mere minutes. In this collage, from left, is: spodumene, the mineral concentrate containing the lithium to be extracted; spodumene roasted with sodium hydroxide; leach solution, or the liquid leaching lithium from the roasted mixture; and the final product of lithium carbonate. 

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Credit: Chandima Hevapathiranage/Rezaee Lab/Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lightweight lithium metal is a heavy-hitting critical mineral, serving as the key ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power phones, laptops, electric vehicles and more. As ubiquitous as lithium is in modern technology, extracting the metal is complex and expensive. A new method, developed by researchers at Penn State and recently granted patent rights, enables high-efficiency lithium extraction — in minutes, not hours — using low temperatures and simple water-based leaching.

"Lithium powers the technologies that define our modern lives — from smartphones to electric vehicles — and has applications in grid energy storage, ceramics, glass, lubricants, and even medical and nuclear technologies,” said Mohammad Rezaee, the Centennial Career Development Professor in Mining Engineering at Penn State, who led the team that published their approach in Chemical Engineering Journal. “But its extraction must also be environmentally responsible. Our research shows that we can extract lithium, and other critical minerals, more efficiently while drastically reducing energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste that’s difficult to manage or dispose of."

Australia, Chile and China lead the world in lithium supplies, exporting to countries competing in increasingly advanced technologies that depend on the mineral. Chile and Argentina are responsible for 97% of lithium exports to the United States, which imports more than twice what it can extract from domestic resources despite housing millions of metric tons of lithium deposits. The issue is the time, financial cost and environmental impact of extracting lithium from the rocks where it naturally occurs, according to Rezaee.

Rezaee and his research group members, Chandima Hevapathiranage and Shihua Han, who are pursuing doctoral degrees in energy and mineral engineering, with the mining and mineral process engineering option, at Penn State, have a solution, though. With far less energy consumption and fewer harsh chemicals than traditional methods, their acid-free approach can extract more than 99% of a rock’s available lithium in minutes, compared to the hours of conventional extraction that produces roughly 96% of the available lithium.

“What makes this approach especially promising is its compatibility with existing industrial infrastructure,” Rezaee said, explaining that the new process is designed with scalability and practicality in mind, and it does not require extreme heat or the use of acids. “It uses common materials like sodium hydroxide — a common compound used in making soap and found in many household cleaners — and water, and it operates at much lower temperatures than traditional techniques. That makes it not just cleaner and faster, but easier to implement at scale.”

Conventional lithium extraction involves either coaxing rock ores into giving up the metal or evaporating ponds of lithium-rich brine. Evaporation requires significant amounts of water and takes too long to match industry demands. Directly extracting lithium from mined rocks is quicker than brine evaporation but involves heating the minerals to incredibly high temperatures of 1,110 degrees Celsius — 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit — and maintaining the temperature for two hours. This makes the lithium mineral porous and prepares the lithium to separate from the rock. In the next step, the porous mineral is treated with sulfuric acid and heated to 482 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours. Known as sulfuric acid baking, this step eventually dissolves much of the lithium. The resulting acidic lithium solution is then treated to neutralize the acid and purify the metal.

“Each step of the conventional method, especially the high-temperature treatment, emits a substantial amount of carbon dioxide,” Rezaee said, explaining that the sulfuric acid also poses environmental concerns and leaves hazardous byproducts. “The process requires significant equipment investment and has challenges for temperature control and energy recovery. Impurities lead to lithium loss, and the acidic lithium solution requires significant chemical consumption to become basic for final extraction.”

When Rezaee and his team first considered improving this process, they realized they could eliminate the need for phase transformation — the extreme heating and sulfuric acid baking that loosens lithium ions from the mineral.

“We used thermodynamic modeling to understand how the lithium-bearing minerals might interact with different chemical agents, and then validated those predictions through laboratory experiments,” Rezaee said. “We found that mixing the lithium-containing mineral, called spodumene, with sodium hydroxide, at relatively low temperatures converts the mineral into lithium-bearing water-soluble phases.”

They also investigated the use of microwave heating for this low temperature reaction — similar to heating food in a microwave rather than an oven — to cut the processing time to just minutes.

This reaction produces lithium sodium silicate, a compound that dissolves readily in room-temperature water. When water is added, the lithium leaches out in about a minute. Because the resulting solution is already basic, meaning non-acidic, it also eliminates the need for the chemical additions that conventional lithium extraction requires to shift from acidic to basic. The researchers can immediately add a compound that solidifies the lithium so that it can be easily collected.

According to Rezaee, the process can also work to extract lithium and two other critical minerals — rubidium and cesium, which are used in electronics, quantum computing, solar panels, atomic clocks, satellite navigation systems, batteries and even as a rocket propellant — from lepidolite, another rock ore. It can also extract lithium from clay sources. The team is now working toward scaling up their approach and refining the process for industrial application.

The Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences supported this work through the George H. Deike, Jr. Research Award.

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Journal

Chemical Engineering Journal

DOI

10.1016/j.cej.2025.159661 

Article Title

Direct lithium extraction from α-Spodumene using NaOH roasting and water leaching

 

Restoring oil wells back to nature with moss

Researchers use moss in new method capable of restoring peatlands damaged by oil and gas exploration

University of Waterloo

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The well pad, located near the town of Slave Lake, Alberta, immediately after researchers introduced the moss, but before it started to establish. (University of Waterloo)

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Credit: University of Waterloo

In what could represent a milestone in ecological restoration, researchers have implemented a method capable of restoring peatlands at tens of thousands of oil and gas exploration sites in western Canada. 

Researchers from the University of Waterloo led the project that involves lowering the surface of these decommissioned sites, known as well pads, and transplanting native moss onto them to effectively recreate peatlands. This is the first time researchers have applied the method to scale on an entire well pad. The study found that the technique results in sufficient water for the growth of peatland moss across large portions of the study site. 

Historically, restoration efforts involved planting trees or grasses to establish upland forests or grasslands. This new method returns a well pad to its condition before drilling occurred and supports the ongoing development of peatland restoration techniques. The discovery can help the oil and gas industry and its regulators better mitigate the long-term impact of resource extraction on Canadian peatland ecosystems. 

“These results are the first to suggest that the re-establishment of peatland vegetation on full-scale lowered well pads is possible. through peatlands, which can negatively affect the ecosystem in surrounding areas,” said Murdoch McKinnon, PhD candidate in the Faculty of Environment. “Well pads bury all of the native peatland vegetation under clay or sand, negatively impacting the ability of the peatland to sequester carbon and also reducing the availability of habitat for wildlife.” 

The researchers plan to continue monitoring ecosystem development on the tested well pads to confirm that the transplanted mosses will be self-sustaining over the coming decades. Partners at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s Centre for Boreal Research are now applying some of the study’s recommendations at sites across northern Alberta.  

“Preserving peatlands is critical because of the role they play storing and supplying water in the landscape,” said Dr. Richard Petrone, a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at Waterloo. “They are also our best choice for nature-based climate change solutions because of the vast amounts of carbon that they store.” 

In the future, researchers will focus on increasing the amount of water that flows from surrounding natural peatlands into well pads to further optimize soil moisture. This will be an essential step given the sensitivity of the native mosses to drying out and might therefore improve regrowth.  

Mount Royal University, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Athabasca University also contributed to this work. The study, Hydrologic assessment of mineral substrate suitability for true moss initiation in a boreal peatland undergoing restoration, appears in Ecological Engineering.  

The restored peatland in the summer of 2024, about five years after the introduction of moss, and demonstrating the establishment of sedges, mosses and other vegetation. (University of Waterloo)

Wellpad moss October 2024 [VIDEO] 

Drone video of the restored wellpad near the town of Slave Lake, Alberta in the fall of 2024.

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Journal

Ecological Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.ecoleng.2025.107615 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Hydrologic assessment of mineral substrate suitability for true moss initiation in a boreal peatland undergoing restoration