MAGAZINE
T HE M AG A ZINE DE VOT ED TO NICK EL A ND I T S A PPLIC ATIONS
If you hear “we’re just going in circles” your meeting is probably not making
any progress. For metals such as nickel, however, it means you are right on
track. That ideal circle looks like this:
Resources
Production Waste Recycling
Product recycling
Product recycling (product)
(product elements) Reconditioning
Material recycling of product
Reconditioning of
product elements
Product
disassembly
A recent report1 concludes that making better use of the materials that already
exist in the economy could take EU industry halfway towards net-zero emissions.
SOLARRESERVE
The reality is that, all along the way, there are losses: material that is not collected
and losses because of inefficiencies and economic limits in recycling processes.
Research by Yale University shows that 17% of end-of-life nickel currently ends
up in landfills. In this edition of Nickel we look at examples of how industry is
responding to this challenge.
Progress in the recycling of nickel-containing batteries is increasing recovery
rates (getting it back) and recycling efficiency (getting more back from what is
A modern lighthouse: the
recovered). The end-of-life recycling of automotive Li-ion batteries is becoming big
Crescent Dunes concentrated
business and several of the pioneers and their technologies feature in this issue.
solar plant, Tonopah, Nevada.
As well as being an infinitely recyclable material, nickel is an enabler of other USA. An outstanding example
technologies which are contributing to sustainability. A great example is of nickel enabling technologies
concentrated solar power where nickel alloys are essential to withstand high that support sustainability.
temperatures. Crescent Dunes is a stunning example as our cover attests. And
the city of Houston has a beautiful new nickel-containing sculpture. Happily, it
will be a long time – if ever – before Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Column is recycled.
Clare Richardson
Editor, Nickel Magazine
1
Material Economics – The Circular Economy – A powerful force for climate mitigation – Transformative
innovation for prosperous and low-carbon industry
NOTABLES
CONTENTS
02 Case study no. 13
Águilas Footbridge
03 Editorial
Going in circles
04 Nickel notables
09 Recovery of nickel
from secondary materials
A sea of information
in solar power
12 Nickel recycling
Towards a circular economy The Nickel Institute and the Copper Development Association,
14 Announcements working in collaboration, have developed a new series of technical
presentations. The series is aimed at engineers involved in the design,
14 New videos
specification, fabrication or operation of materials in contact with
14 Web links seawater, in industries such as wave and tidal energy, offshore wind
energy, offshore oil and gas, and shipbuilding and ship repair. Delivered
15 Nickel catalysts
End-of-life recovery in Kuwait by technical experts, the presentations help users better understand
the behaviour of copper-based alloys, stainless steels and nickel alloys
15 UNS details
in marine environments. The presentations are available on the Copper
16 Cloud Column Development Association website.
sculpture by Anish Kapoor
Tiny temperatures
Scientists from the Tokyo Institute
of Technology have developed a
micrometre-wide thermometer
consisting of a gold and nickel
thermocouple on a silicon nitride
membrane. It’s able to measure
the smallest temperature changes
in real time. The device is a
AEROJET ROCKETDYNE
Why fret
about guitar
strings?
As the electric guitar became a key
instrument in the evolution of pop
music, pure-nickel strings were the
standard in the 1950’s and 60’s.
In recent years, nickel-plated
strings have become increasingly
popular, sparking a debate about
which is better. Some guitar purists
crave that vintage smooth, warm
tone, while others are satisfied with
TESLA
TETRONICS
primary supply, up from 35 % in Steel production has high potential
1994. With primary supply growing, Since over two-thirds of all nickel is
reclaiming nickel through recycling used in the production of stainless
must also grow, just to keep up. steel, the ferro-alloy output of most
smelting-based recovery methods “Low gas flows in the furnace
Need for more “urban mining”
makes them an obvious source of and close control of smelting
Clearly, new secondary sources are
secondary nickel. conditions ensure minimum
required to meet society’s increasing
generation of off-gas dusts
need for nickel. Tetronics’ DC plasma arc smelting
and excellent environmental
In some cases, society’s wastes is one typical example, with two
credentials. With the relentless
commercial plants operating for
contain higher valuable metal content pressure for increased metal
decades to recover nickel, chromium,
than naturally-occurring ores. supply, it seems certain we
molybdenum and other metals from
Petrochemical industry promising will see an expansion of
stainless steel production wastes.
The petrochemical industry has some dedicated processing capacity
“Coke or anthracite reductant is for these and other secondary
of the most promising secondary
added to the feed material. The sources of nickel at Tetronics
sources of nickel.
plasma arc provides the input energy over the next few years.”
Crude oil naturally contains low to produce a ferroalloy for re-use in
levels of nickel, which becomes stainless steel production at a scale — Dr. Tim Johnson
concentrated in the ash fraction ideally suited to the current availabil- Technical Director, Tetronics
and comprises typically around ity of spent petrochemical catalysts
10 wt % in fully combusted ash from and related secondary materials,”
heavy fuel oil combustion systems. explains Dr. Tim Johnson, Tetronics’
Catalysts used in refineries and the Technical Director.
SOLARRESERVE
energy to the receiver located at the molten-salts was previously a chal-
top of a 200 m (640 ft) tower. Each lenge. Designers and engineers have
heliostat is made up of mirrored turned to nickel-based alloys such as
facets which add up to an area UNS N06617, N06625 and N06230 for
of 115.7 m2 (1,245 ft2). The total receiver tube applications due to their Crescent Dunes, is located at
collection area is over 1.2 million m2 high-temperature strength sustained Tonopah, Nevada in the desert
(12 million ft2). Commercial start- over long periods – known as creep north of Las Vegas. It has a net
up began in 2015. Since that time resistance. These alloys remain stable electrical generating capacity
Crescent Dunes has produced over at the operating temperatures primari- of 110 MW and ten hours of
173 GWh of electricity, and it is ly due to their high nickel content, and TES. This means that the plant
estimated to provide peak power for have high oxidation resistance as well. is able to generate power
75,000 homes. CSP with solar tower(s) under full load for up to ten
Stainless steel Type 347H (S34709)
hours during peak demand.
and molten-salt is the design basis for is used for the high-temperature
new planned projects in South Africa, storage tanks.
EXTRACT
57% abundant resource
for the future
of all mined nickel
is still in use due to
the long lifetime of +60 MILLION
TONNES 1
-+ 600 MILLION
TONNES
potentially available
2
USE
without loss of quality.
MANUFACTURE
material recycling
potential at the conversion of nickel
end-of-life into end-use products
1. USGS Minerals information: Historical Global Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities.
2. Mudd and Jowitt (2014) – A detailed assessment of global nickel resource trends and endowments. Economic Geology v. 109 pp 1813-1841.
NEW VIDEOS
NICKEL
O N L I N E
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UNS DETAILS Chemical compositions (% by weight) of the alloys and stainless steels
mentioned in this issue of Nickel.
UNS Al B C Co Cr Cu Fe La Mn Mo N Nb Ni P S Si Ti W
N06230 0.20- 0.015 0.05- 5.0 20.0- – 3.0 0.005- 0.30- 1.0- – – bal 0.030 0.015 0.25- – 13.0-
p. 11 0.50 max 0.15 max 24.0 max 0.050 1.00 3.0 max max 0.75 15.0
N06617 0.8- 0.006 0.05- 10.0- 20.0- 0.5 3.0 – 1.0 8.0- – – 44.5 – 0.015 1.0 0.6 –
p. 11 1.5 max 0.15 15.0 24.0 max max max 10.0 min max max max
N06625 0.40 0.10 – 20.0- – 5.0 – 0.50 8.0- – 3.15- 58.0 0.015 0.015 0.50 0.40 –
p. 11 max max 23.0 max max 10.0 4.15 min max max max max
S31600 – – 0.08 – 16.0- – bal – 2.00 2.00- 0.10 – 10.0- 0.045 0.030 0.75 – –
p. 5 max 18.0 max. 3.00 max 14.0 max max max
S34709 – – 0.04- – 17.0- – bal – 2.00 – – 8xC min 9.0- 0.045 0.030 0.75 – –
p. 11 0.10 19.0 max 1.00 max 13.0 max max max
Anish Kapoor, Cloud Column, 1998–2006, stainless steel, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund.
16 NICKEL,
| NICKEL,
VOL.VOL.
33,33,
NO.NO.
2, 2018
2, 2018