Electric- vehicle boom drives miner’s $100-m hunt for new palladium uses

Electric- vehicle boom drives miner’s $100-m hunt for new palladium uses

Subject : Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

• Russia’s MMC Norilsk Nickel is spending $100 Mn to find new uses for palladium as the electric-vehicle boom threatens the metal’s crucial catalytic converter market.

Palladium:

• It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal.
  • Nornickel mines about 40% of the world’s palladium.
  • Nornickel is researching new uses of palladium in the hydrogen, solar power and chemical sectors.
• South Africa is the leading producer of palladium followed by Russia, Canada, the USA and Zimbabwe, while Russia is the leading exporter.
• Deposits:
  • Ore deposits of palladium are rare. It is mainly found in the norite belt of the Bushveld Igneous Complex covering the Transvaal Basin in South Africa, the Stillwater Complex in Montana, United States; the Sudbury Basin and Thunder Bay District of Ontario, Canada, and the Norilsk Complex in Russia.
  • Recycling is also a source, mostly from scrapped catalytic converters.
• Application:
  • 80% of all palladium ends up in autocatalysts that curb emissions in automobiles, but electric vehiclesdo not need a pollution-controlling device.
    • As a catalytic converter, Palladium converts as much as 90% of the harmful gases in automobile exhaust (hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide) into nontoxic substances (nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapour).
  • Palladium is also used in electronics, dentistry, medicine, hydrogen purification, chemical applications, groundwater treatment, and jewellery.
  • Palladium is a key component of fuel cells, in which hydrogen and oxygen react to produce electricity, heat, and water.
  • New products:
    • Palladium can be used as a catalyst in hydrogen power systems, and solar power cells, as a catalyst for the synthesis of acids for biodegradable packaging, as an electrode for disinfecting water, and in the cosmetics industry.