6 ms·
Isn't this absurd? At a glance, shouldn't it take acres and acres being cared for for months to, then some processing, to extract the same nickel as a mine in a
by dmbche 3y ago
Isn't this absurd? At a glance, shouldn't it take acres and acres being cared for for months to, then some processing, to extract the same nickel as a mine in a day, maybe a week?
Are the nickel mines dry?
Anyone has a breakdown of the math?
Edit1:
"But while the idea is still at a nebulous stage, there is considerable potential.
“In soil that contains roughly 5 percent nickel—that is pretty contaminated—you’re going to get an ash that’s about 25 to 50 percent nickel after you burn it down,” Dave McNear, a biogeochemist at the University of Kentucky, told Wired.
“In comparison, where you mine it from the ground, from rock, that has about .02 percent nickel. So you are several orders of magnitude greater in enrichment, and it has far less impurities.”"
From :https://singularityhub.com/2024/03/28/these-plants-could-mine-crucial-battery-materials-from-the-soil-with-their-roots/ https://singularityhub.com/2024/03/28/these-plants-could-min...
- vintermann 3y agoI know there's impressively little metal in most metal ores mined today. It's actually kind of amazing how comparatively cheap metals like copper are, considering they move and crush maybe 1000 or 10000 kgs of rock for every kg of metal (the mine waste isn't pleasant to think about either). I guess that in contaminated soil, waste ash ponds etc. the metal is in forms which are harder to extract or separate. Because from just weight ratio, it's hard to understand how rock is better.
- euroderf 3y ago> considering they move and crush maybe 1000 or 10000 kgs of rock for every kg of metal This is more or less what I visualize if I get weary of recycling bits of metal (bottle caps, aluminum foil, ...).
- pbhjpbhj 3y agoMaybe you can combine it with other production, make bio-diesel say?
- ametrau 3y agoIt would be cool to be able to get the diesel and the metal. The plants have stored calories in some form. There is a way to get energy from them.
- onthecanposting 3y agoI don't think you would want any toxic metals in fuel given the risk of sending it into the air. There are probably real industrial uses, though, like reagents for labs.
- pbhjpbhj 3y agoAIUI you grow the plants, then process them to get the metals. Then you have plant matter with 'no' metals ... so using that to make bio-diesel seems possible? Depending on the details it might be possible to use the burning of the plants to extract the metals - similar effect (in that you get an energy crop and mineral extraction in one). You raise a valid concern though, thank you.
- VyseofArcadia 3y agoI think this is an offshoot of rather successful research into phytoremediation, which is using plants to extract harmful things (e.g. lead) from the soil.