Table 11. Opportunities for Basic Metallurgical Research Related to Sustainable Nickel and Cobalt Production, with Potentially High Leverage on Improved Sustainability.

Process- and mechanism-related research on sustainable nickel and cobalt production

Primary synthesis: All synthesis methods with reduced energy consumption and increase in the efficiency of energy usage in production; better water management and less water usage in production: because cobalt and nickel sulfide minerals require for extraction and benefication about 1,100–1,500 liter of water per tonne of ore and laterite ores need even up to 4,500 liter of water per tonne of ore, less water-intense benefication is of highest importance; use of efficient combined reducing plasma and smelting methods, where contaminated scrap can be processed; low-energy synthesis (sulfidic ores require up to 2.5 GJ energy per tonne of ore and lateritic ores require up to 8 GJ energy per tonne of ore); electrification of process steps; responsible mine tailings management including measures to safely manage and dispose of waste materials generated during the mining process to reduce environmental impact, particularly of arsenide contaminated waste; new methods for metal extraction of low-grade ores; minimized impact of waste water from metal production on local ecosystems

Secondary synthesis and alloy design measures: All methods to increase the amount of recycled nickel and cobalt used in production; better scrap collection and sorting; alloy-specific scrap sorting; science of “dirty alloys” (study of effect of generally higher impurity element content); alternative and compositionally more lean electrode materials; stainless steels with lower nickel content