Hydrogen plasma method makes nickel extraction cleaner and faster

Source: The post Hydrogen plasma method makes nickel extraction cleaner and faster has been created, based on the article “How extracting and producing nickel can be made more sustainable” published in “The Hindu” on 10 June 2025. Hydrogen plasma method makes nickel extraction cleaner and faster.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper1- Resources And GS Paper3-Environment

Context: Nickel is crucial for clean energy applications, particularly electric vehicles (EVs), but its extraction is highly polluting. A recent study introduces a sustainable, carbon-free method using hydrogen plasma to extract nickel from low-grade ores, offering an efficient solution amid rising demand and environmental challenges.

Nickel’s Role and Environmental Cost

1. Vital for Green Technologies: Nickel is a key material in lithium-ion batteries used in EVs. Demand is projected to exceed six million tonnes per year by 2040, driven by clean energy transitions.
2. High Emissions from Current Processes: Extracting one tonne of nickel emits over 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide. While EVs are cleaner during use, their production, especially battery components like nickel, has a heavy environmental toll.
3. Pollution Shift Across Sectors: The current mining process shifts emissions from transportation to industrial sectors, undermining the sustainability goals of the green energy movement.

New Hydrogen Plasma-Based Method

1. Carbon-Free One-Step Process: Researchers at the Max Planck Institute developed a one-step extraction using hydrogen plasma in an electric arc furnace. It avoids the use of carbon, producing only water as a byproduct.
2. Faster and Cleaner Reaction: Hydrogen gas is transformed into high-energy plasma, which reacts quickly with nickel oxide. This results in rapid, carbon-free metal extraction using only electricity and hydrogen.
3. Efficiency and Emission Reduction
   The new method can reduce carbon emissions by up to 84% and is about 18% more energy-efficient compared to conventional multi-step techniques.

Advantages for Low-Grade Laterite Ores

1. Utilising Abundant Resources: Laterite ores are rich in nickel but difficult to process. Unlike rapidly depleting sulphide ores, laterites are widely available and suitable for the new method.
2. Unlocking India’s Reserves: India, especially Odisha’s Sukinda region, holds large deposits of laterite ores with 0.4–0.9% nickel. These are often ignored due to traditional method limitations but are viable using the new process.
3. Reducing Import Dependence: Processing low-grade ores domestically reduces reliance on high-grade imports and supports India’s push for mineral self-sufficiency.

Wider Sustainability and Policy Implications

1. Alignment with India’s Climate Goals: The method supports India’s industrialisation while adhering to its net-zero emissions target by 2070. It enhances the value of domestic mineral assets.
2. Avoiding Emission Displacement: Sustainable extraction ensures emissions are not merely shifted across sectors, but actually reduced — a key to true environmental progress.
3. Enabling Green Infrastructure: By ensuring clean raw material supply chains, the method underpins the broader transition to renewable energy, EVs, and eco-friendly infrastructure.

Challenges to Industrial Adoption

1. Scalability Issues: Experts caution that large-scale implementation requires high initial investment, reliable renewable energy, and ore-specific adaptations.
2. Need for Further Study: The process demands additional research into thermodynamic kinetics and continuous oxygen species supply at the furnace interface.
3. Strong Potential Despite Barriers: Though industrial application poses challenges, the method offers a promising, low-emission alternative to conventional nickel extraction.

Read the full post: Challenges to Industrial Adoption

Question for practice:

Discuss how the hydrogen plasma method offers a sustainable alternative to traditional nickel extraction and its significance for countries like India.