Featured in Batteries to center stage – 02-2021

Nickel’s problem with waste

For many of the newest lithium-ion batteries, reducing the amount of cobalt in the mix means increasing the share of nickel. But nickel comes with its own set of environmental concerns: Once it is extracted from the ground, the processing of nickel ores generates far more waste than it does usable material. And dealing with this waste is a growing problem for many producers.
By
pv magazine
Image: Barsa Muphe

Nickel miners have jumped on the opportunity to contribute to rapidly growing energy storage technology. But satisfying demand may require changes to a 60-year-old refining process that relies on sulfuric acid and creates large amounts of waste.Around the world, plants that process nickel ore into the refined products sold to battery manufacturers have hit cost …

pv magazine
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