Researchers at MPI-SusMat have developed a hydrogen plasma method that cuts nickel extraction CO₂ emissions by 84 percent.
To build a climate-neutral industry, carbon emissions need to drop fast. A major part of that push is switching from carbon-based fuels to electricity—especially in transport and industrial systems. This transition relies heavily on nickel.
Nickel is a key material in both stainless steel and batteries used in electric vehicles and renewable energy storage.Nickel demand is expected to double by 2040 due to growing electrification. That’s a problem, because traditional nickel production is far from clean. Producing just one ton of nickel currently releases around 20 tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere. This raises a serious concern that we may be replacing vehicle emissions with a different environmental problem.Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials think there’s a better way. They’ve developed a new, carbon-free method to extract nickel using hydrogen plasma. This could drastically cut the emissions from nickel production and make use of low-grade ores that are normally overlooked.A one-step breakthrough in nickel extraction“If we continue producing nickel in the conventional way and use it for electrification, we are just shifting the problem rather than solving it,” says Ubaid Manzoor, Ph.D. researcher at MPI-SusMat and lead author of the study.Manzoor and his team created a new technique that uses hydrogen plasma to extract nickel from ore in a single step. Unlike the carbon-heavy methods used today, this process cuts CO₂ emissions by 84 percent. It’s also up to 18 percent more energy-efficient—especially when powered by renewable electricity and green hydrogen.This is a huge change from traditional processes, which involve several energy-intensive steps: calcination, smelting, reduction, and refining. Each step consumes a lot of energy and adds to the carbon footprint.Another key advantage is that the new method works with low-grade nickel ores. These ores, which make up 60 percent of global nickel reserves, are usually considered too complex to process efficiently. That’s because nickel in these ores is chemically locked within compounds like magnesium silicates and iron oxides.But the Max Planck method breaks down these complex compounds in a single furnace. Using hydrogen plasma and precise temperature control, the researchers reduced and refined the ore into a ferronickel alloy—all in one go.“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,” says Professor Isnaldi Souza Filho, head of the “Sustainable Synthesis of Materials” group at MPI-SusMat and corresponding author of the study.Ready for scale-up and real-world impactBeyond its environmental benefits, this method opens new doors for cost-effective nickel production. Using low-grade ores lowers costs and reduces the need for expensive mining of high-grade deposits. The Max Planck team is now working on scaling the process for industrial use.“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.” According to the team, these are already standard techniques in industrial furnaces, which makes the new method easier to adopt at scale.The end product—a reduced ferronickel alloy—can be used directly in stainless steel manufacturing. With further refinement, it can also serve as material for battery electrodes, feeding the fast-growing EV and renewable sectors.Even the byproducts have value. The slag left over from the process can be used in brick and cement production, giving another sustainability boost. And the process can be adapted for cobalt extraction too—another crucial metal used in EVs and energy storage systems.This single-step, hydrogen-based method could help industries meet climate goals without creating new environmental problems. The study has been published in the journal Nature.
CO2 Emissions EV EV Batteries Hydrogen Hydrogen Plasma Nickel Plasma Transportation
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