NICKEL PRODUCTION

Submitted by:Kleenton Godfrey P. YnzonBSPE – 4B

Submitted to:Engr. Dorothy SepeProcess Plant Engineering

MTWThF5:00pm – 8:00pm

I. INTRODUCTION

Legendary American football coach Yogi Berra once said: “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore”. This might suggest that nickel doesn’t have any real value; but that is entirely wrong. It’s uses are many and increasing.

Nickel is an incredibly versatile element and can be used to alloy with many other metals, each with its own benefits. This makes nickel a highly practical metal, with artefacts such as coins and weapons showing its usage even in early civilisations.

It is one of the most corrosion-resistant metals in the world and there is evidence of it being mined and used more than five and a half thousand years ago. Incidentally it’s name comes from a German mythological sprite (a bit like Old Nick), its atomic number is 28 and chemical symbol is Ni.

If you were to start your day by cooking your breakfast in a stainless steel pan then you are using a product which is a nickel alloy. So too might be the cutlery you use to eat your meal. The fridge you took the food out of will have nickel in it somewhere.

You might not be playing your electric guitar this early in the day but it’s likely to have nickel strings. Switch on your computer and it’ll be part of your hard drive. If you check the time on your watch as you call work on your mobile phone whilst switching on your car’s headlights, that’s three more places where it’s likely to be working for you. All this before your day even really starts!

Why Nickel is so UsefulAs well as being so corrosion-resistant, alloys containing nickel are usually both very tough and extremely ductile. The metal holds its strength through wide temperature ranges. In certain combinations it also exhibits useful magnetic and electronic properties.

Between eight and twelve per cent of stainless steel is nickel, and this is one of more than three thousand such alloys which are in everyday use around the world. This usage is growing at about 4% every year and about 90% of all new nickel mined is used for the production of alloys.

Some Other Places you Can Find NickelAmongst the many other locations and products where nickel is present are the Empire State Building, surgical implants, aircraft engines, the Louvre Pyramid, rechargeable batteries, surgical instruments, wine-making equipment, and costume jewellery! It’s also believed that nickel is the second most abundant element in the earth’s core, although we’ll just have to believe the scientists on this one. It’s also found in meteorites and supernovas!

Nickel and the EnvironmentProducts including nickel tend to have a long lifespan – often more than twenty-five years. It is also one of the most recycled of metals, with the exception of products where the tiny amount used simply couldn’t be recovered. Where nickel is present in special alloys it is usual for that alloy itself to be recycled. For example, about half of all new stainless steel uses are with recycled nickel.

Due to its properties, nickel has a whole host of applications but the majority of these involve corrosion and/or heat resistance. Common uses may include: aircraft gas turbines, steam turbine power plants, medical devices, nuclear power systems and chemical and petrochemical industries.

Special-purpose nickel-base also referred to as “high-nickel alloys” are also characterised by specific properties, these include: electrical resistance, shape memory, low-expansion and soft magnetic.

These industrial forms of nickel as well as nickel-base alloys are completely austenitic. They are usually picked for usage due to their resistance to heat and aqueous corrosion.

‘Commercially pure’ and low-alloy nickels

‘Commercially pure’ and the group called ‘low-alloy nickels’ can be found with nickel levels that range from about 94% to almost 100%. This makes them high density materials affording the user electronic and magnetic capabilities in addition to very good resistance to corrosion to chemically reducing environments and moderate thermal transfer characteristics.

Nickel-copper alloys

Nickel-copper alloys serve exceptionally well in reducing environments and sea water. Their ability to resist corrosion means that they are used commonly in nuclear submarines as well as surface vessels. Corrosion resistant varieties include: Alloy 625 and Alloy C276

Altering the proportions of nickel and copper in the alloy provides greater flexibility by offering a spectrum of electrical resistivities and Curie points. Commonly used industrial nickel-copper alloys include: Alloy 400, and Alloy K-500.

Nickel-chromium and nickel-chromium-iron alloys

These nickel alloys provide higher strength and resistance to elevated temperatures. They are invaluable in today’s commercial and military power systems. Nickel-chromium alloys or alloys containing greater than 15% Cr can be used to provide both oxidation and carburization resistance at temperatures over 760°C. Iron-nickel-chromium alloys of importance include: Nickel 200 and Nickel 201

Iron-nickel-chromium alloys are also used very prominently in high temperature petrochemical arenas where sulfur containing feedstocks such as naphtha as well as heavy oils, are cracked into component parts for commercial usage. Here the alloys have proved resistant to chloride-ion stress-corrosion cracking in addition to polythionic acid cracking.

Nickel is a lustrous silvery-white, corrosion-resistant metal with a reddish tinge that has been used for thousands of years. Along with three other metals, cobalt, iron and gadolinium, nickel is an elements that is ferromagnetic when at or near room temperature. The unique properties of nickel lend to the attraction of the metal’s extreme importance in industrial applications. A commonly overlooked presence of modern day life, nickel is used in applications in buildings and infrastructure, household equipment, chemical production, and energy supply, to name a few.

Usage

Due to the corrosion-resistant properties of nickel, the metal is mostly used in the production of nonferrous alloys and superalloys. Over half of the global nickel produced goes into making stainless steel. Stainless steel offers consumers a cost-efficient, corrosion-resistant, stable, ductile, austenitic material that is easy to clean and relatively easy to fabricate. The inherent

properties of stainless steels have proven to be an ideal product for use in hygienic applications such as food preparation or medical equipment.

Of the other applications of the silvery metal, nickel is used in production of coins, green coloring for glass and in rechargeable batteries. Currently there are several types of nickel batteries on the market; nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal-hydride are the most common.

Demand

In direct correlation with economic growth, the demand and usage of nickel has its share of ups and downs. For the most part, the demand for nickel is derived primarily from the demand for stainless steel. Because much of the Western world’s infrastructure was built prior to stainless steel becoming popular, Asia accounts for a large percentage of the current demand. In recent years, Asia has accounted for more than 50 percent of the world demand for nickel, with 25 percent of that demand coming from China alone. With China’s recently increased efforts in urbanization, in 2010 Asia, as a whole, produce 14,731 million metric tonnes of stainless and heat resistant steel, of which China accounted for more than half.

Producing countries

While Nickel is mined in approximately 20 different countries, three dominate the top three spots in terms of nickel deposits: Russia, Canada, and Australia.

Russia ranks first as the world’s largest nickel producing country. In Russia, two economic concentrations of nickel can be found in two different geological environments: sulphide ore and lateritic nickel ore.

Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel (LON:MNOD) is the world’s largest producer of nickel. The Company is involved in not only the exploration and extraction of nickel, but also the refining, metallurgical processing and production of the base metal. Norilsk has facilities in six countries: Russia, Australia, Botswana, Finland and South Africa.

The second largest nickel producing country is Canada. While most Canadian provinces are exploring for nickel in Canada, most of the nickel currently in production comes from the Thompson Nickel Belt in Manitoba, the Sudbury Basin of Ontario, and the Ungava peninsula of Quebec.

With a substantial nickel resource, Australia is the world’s third most significant producer of nickel. The country primarily exports its nickel products to Europe, Japan and the United States, providing the country with an important source of export income.

II. FEASIBILITY STUDY

Intex Resources is pleased to announce the public release of details of the Mindoro Nickel definitive feasibility study on its web site. Following the formal release of certain trading restrictions against parties who showed interest in the company’s feasibility study, the new

management has cleared the way for providing the details of what we find are the remarkable results of the Mindoro Definitive Feasibility Study to a much broader audience, for better transparency and in accordance with regulations of other securities as e.g. the NI43-101 and Sedar submission requirements in Canada. While the original target was a maximized economic value for the project, the company’s technical management together with its engineering advisors also set out to create a project that not only would have a substantial value as a commercial enterprise, but equally important, would incorporate the most efficient technologies available for the processing of nickel from laterite ore, and with maximized environmental considerations. The result was a project which – benign by design –potentially could set a new standard for the nickel industry and make nickel mining vastly more acceptable than traditional projects. Our flow sheet is using a combined hydrometallurgical process for both its limonite and saprolite ores, thereby avoiding high-energy smelting of e.g. the saprolite ore component. The project will self-generate 110 MW of entirely CO2-free power from steam produced from excess heat in the acid plant and the subsequent neutralisation of residual acid is conducted using additional saprolite ore rather than limestone, further minimizing CO2-emissions while adding more nickel to the process. Heat and water is excessively recycled and the ore is slurried using sea water, limiting the fresh water needs. In the mine, both limonite and saprolite ores are mined and consumed by the process plant in the ratio they occur, minimizing the need for stockpiling vast amounts of ore. This is possible because of the uniform nature of the mineral deposit, and has the important implication that mining can be conducted sequentially and in a small, restricted footprint. Mine blocks are defined within isolated natural drainage fields to minimize the risk of spills to local runoff and the mine plan includes extensive mitigation installations to avoid the escape of materials from active mine areas. Following the mining operation each area will be immediately rehabilitated and replanted before it is returned to the original land users. The Board’s main objective of the DFS was to maximize the value of the project, and as the economics of the study also showed, the project is financially robust with an NPV (10%) of USD 2.5 bn and IRR of 24% at a long term nickel price of USD8.25. Operating costs were estimated at USD 2.11/lb before credits for by products and USD0.56/Lb after credits. At today’s nickel price this gives the project a margin of USD 10 /lb Nickel or an impressive EBIDTA of USD 1.2 Bn /y. The Proven and Probable Reserves today define 2.6 bn pounds of nickel while the total resources contain approximately the double amount, with further upside. The Capex of USD 2.5 bn for a hydrometallurgical plant of 120 million Lb Nickel (53,000 tpa) is in line with comparable projects, however, it nevertheless represents such an amount that the management realises this could be a challenge for the realisation of this project in the Philippines. Intex’s management therefore has started initiatives to study alternative solutions for the start up of this project under a considerable lower financial risk profile. These initiatives include a staged development plan where the first stage could be built around a turnkey acid plant, to minimize technical risks, and using smaller hydrometallurgical production units, which is expected to substantially reduce CAPEX. With a smaller start up, valuable operational experience can be gathered and cash flow be established in preparation for optional expansion stages to ultimately a full scale project in subsequent stages. The management remains confident that Mindoro Nickel represents a unique opportunity to the communities of Mindoro Island, and to the Philippines as well as to our shareholders, and the new management will continue to aggressively seek its early realization, while keeping our shareholders and stakeholders informed about progress.

Nickel Advantage: wide range of versatile stainless steels in different families: the austenitic 300 and 200

series, duplex, PH grades stainless steels with proven reliability in tens of thousands of applications stainless steels combining resistance to corrosion, a wide range of mechanical .properties

from cryogenic to elevated temperatures and ease of fabrication stainless steels for hygienic equipment in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industry,

which can be cleaned with aggressive chemicals and ensure product purity stainless steels of the 18/8, 18/10 or 18/12 type associated with high quality in consumer

goods stainless steels that meet the need for extreme formability stainless steels with very good weldability over a wide range of thicknesses stainless steels that are widely available in numerous product forms and sizes stainless steels that come in a wide variety of surface finishes and even colours for

impressive results stainless steels that can have low magnetic permeability necessary for electronic

applications and even medical implants stainless steels that provide long-lasting value and at end of use they have a high intrinsic

value as scrap

Nickel belongs to the transition metals. It is hard, ductile and considered corrosion-resistant because of its slow rate of oxidation at room temperature. It also boasts a high melting point and is magnetic at room temperature.

Nickel Disadvantages: Handling nickel can result in symptoms of dermatitis among sensitized individuals.

Nickel is valuable for the alloys it forms and roughly 60% of world production goes into nickel-steels. Specific uses include stainless steel, alnico magnets, coins, rechargeable batteries, electric guitar strings, microphone capsules, and special alloys. It is also used for plating and as a green tint in glas

Nickel alloys are used in valve components where severe service conditions are encountered. These alloys are particularly useful in harsh corrosive environments, which would attack stainless steels by breaking down their protective oxide layer.

Hastelloy nickel-based alloys are most often used in valve construction. There are several different forms of Hastelloy, with each being tailored by adding specific alloying elements is varying proportions to suit particular service conditions.

The main disadvantage of nickel alloys is their weight and cost. Nickel alloys have a high density and their cost can be many times that of basic stainless steels.

Titanium alloys combine high strength with light weight and excellent corrosion resistance, having the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal. In a similar manner to stainless steels, titanium alloys gain their corrosion resistance by the development of a protective oxide layer on its surface. They are particularly resistant to corrosion by seawater, in particular in systems where hypochlorite is present to prevent biofouling.

The main disadvantage of titanium alloys is their cost, being around ten times as expensive as basic stainless steels or nickel aluminium bronze. The material is also difficult to process due to its highly reactive nature. Special casting techniques are required to prevent reaction with oxygen during melting and pouring.

Nickel aluminium bronze is a copper-based alloy containing approximately 10% aluminium, 5% nickel and 5% iron. The nickel aluminium bronze alloys provide excellent corrosion resistance, particularly in seawater environments. They also strongly resist the formation of a bio-film, which can cause increased corrosion problems in stainless steels.

Nickel aluminium bronze has a cost approximately equivalent to that of basic grades of stainless steel. One disadvantage of this material is that it is more anodic than most materials, so that if a nickel aluminium bronze valve is coupled to a stainless steel pipe, then corrosion of the valve in seawater could be fairly rapid.

The above shows that many different materials can be used in valve construction. The ultimate choice depends on several factors including service conditions, cost and required life expectancy. Choice can also be strongly influenced by the material of construction of the pipeline, where galvanic corrosion issues must also be taken into account.

III. PLANT LOCATION

IV. RAW MATERIALSThe nickel concentrate used as raw material comes mainly from the Southern Hemisphere; Africa, Australia and Brazil. Other suppliers include Talvivaara in Finland. High-quality methods enable Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta to utilize the raw materials in the most efficient way possible.

Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta Oy manufactures high-technology nickel products. Our raw materials allow us to manufacture high-quality products that are customised for their applications and satisfy our customers' wishes.

We are able to improve the quality of our nickel products even further by listening to our customers and ensuring we work in tight cooperation with them.

NICKEL CATHODES contain 99.9 percent of nickel. Some 29 percent of the plant's production comprises of cathodes. Our largest customers use cathodes to manufacture coatings and alloy metals, especially stainless steel.

Nickel cathodes are used in coating processes that require particularly pure raw materials. The products are provided either cut to pieces in drums or as whole sheets.

NICKEL HYDROXIDE contains about 62 percent of nickel. It is delivered to customers in bags and mainly used in the battery industry.

NICKEL HYDROXIDE CARBONATE contains 40 - 50 percent of nickel. It is produced from the same raw material as actual nickel products. The high purity-grade product is not water-soluble. It is used for corrosion prevention and in the electronics and chemicals industries.

AMMONIUM SULPHATE is a by-product of nickel production. It is used as a fertiliser or raw material for special-purpose fertilisers.

V. PROCESS

Nickel Processing

Although it is best known for its use in coinage, nickel (Ni) has become much more important for its many industrial applications, which owe their importance to a unique combination of properties. Nickel has a relatively high melting point of 1,453 °C (2,647 °F) and a face-centred cubic crystal structure, which gives the metal good ductility. Nickel alloys exhibit a high resistance to corrosion in a wide variety of media and have the ability to withstand a range of high and low temperatures. In stainless steels, nickel improves the stability of the protective oxide film that provides corrosion resistance. Its major contribution is in conjunction with chromium in austenitic stainless steels, in which nickel enables the austenitic structure to be retained at room temperature. Modern technology is heavily dependent on these materials, which form a vital part of the chemical, petrochemical, power, and related industries.

HistoryNickel was used industrially as an alloying metal almost 2,000 years before it was isolated and recognized as a new element. As early as 200 bce the Chinese made substantial amounts of a white alloy from zinc and a copper-nickel ore found in Yunnan province. The alloy, known as pai-t’ung, was exported to the Middle East and even to Europe.

Later, miners in Saxony encountered what appeared to be a copper ore but found that processing it yielded only a useless slaglike material. They considered it bewitched and ascribed it to the devil, “Old Nick.” Thus, it became known as kupfernickel (Old Nick’s copper). It was from this ore, studied by Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, that nickel was isolated and recognized as a new element in 1751. In 1776 it was established that pai-t’ung, now called nickel-silver, was composed of copper, nickel, and zinc.

Demand for nickel-silver was stimulated in England about 1844 by the development of silver electroplating, for which it was found to be the most desirable base. The use of pure nickel as a corrosion-resistant electroplated coating developed a little later; both these uses are still important.

Small amounts of nickel were produced in Germany in the mid-19th century. More substantial amounts came from Norway, and a little came from a mine at Gap, Pennsylvania, in the United

States. A new source, New Caledonia in the South Pacific, came into production about 1877 and dominated until the development of the copper-nickel ores of the Copper Cliff–Sudbury, Ontario, region in Canada, which after 1905 became the world’s largest source of nickel. By the late 1970s, production in Soviet Russia had exceeded that in Canada. By the early 21st century, China had become the world leader in nickel production, followed by Russia, Japan, Australia, and Canada.

Ores

SulfidesCanadian ores are sulfides containing nickel, copper, and iron. The most important nickel mineral is pentlandite, (Ni, Fe)9S8, followed by pyrrhotite, usually ranging from FeS to Fe7S8, in which some of the iron may be replaced by nickel. Chalcopyrite, CuFeS2, is the dominant copper mineral in these ores, with small amounts of another copper mineral, cubanite, CuFe2S3. Some gold, silver, and the six platinum-group metals also are present, and their recovery is important. Cobalt, selenium, tellurium, and sulfur may be recovered from the ores as well.

LateritesOther important classes of ore are the laterites, which are the result of long weathering of peridotite initially containing a small percentage of nickel. Weathering in subtropical climates removes a major portion of the host rock, but the contained nickel dissolves and percolates downward and may reach a concentration sufficiently high to make mining economical. Because of this method of formation, laterite deposits are found near the surface as a soft, frequently claylike material, with nickel concentrated in strata as a result of weathering. Garnierite, (NiMg)6Si4O10(OH)8, a nickel-magnesium silicate, is the richest in nickel, but nickeliferous limonite, (Fe, Ni)O(OH)·nH2O, constitutes a major portion of the laterites. The New Caledonian deposits are of the garnierite type, and numerous other laterite deposits are scattered around the world, presenting a wide range of mining, transport, and recovery problems. The nickel content of laterites varies widely: at Le Nickel in New Caledonia, for example, the ore delivered to the smelter in 1900 contained 9 percent nickel; currently it contains 1 to 3 percent.

Mining

With nickel found in two radically different types of ore, it is not surprising that the mining methods differ. Sulfide deposits are usually mined by underground techniques in a manner similar to copper, although some deposits have been mined using open pits in the early stages. The mining of laterites is basically an earth-moving operation, with large shovels, draglines, or front-end loaders extracting the nickel-rich strata and discarding large boulders and waste material. The ore is loaded into trucks at the face, as would be the case in an open pit, and hauled to the smelter.

Extraction and refiningThe extraction of nickel from ore follows much the same route as copper, and indeed, in a number of cases, similar processes and equipment are used. The major differences in equipment are the use of higher-temperature refractories and the increased cooling required to accommodate the higher operating temperatures in nickel production. The specific processes taken depend on whether the ore is a sulfide or a laterite. In the case of sulfides, the reaction of oxygen with iron and sulfur in the ore supplies a portion of the heat required for smelting. Oxide ores, on the other hand, do not produce the same reaction heats, making necessary the use of energy from other sources for smelting.

From sulfide oresSulfide ores are crushed and ground in order to liberate nickel minerals from the waste materials by selective flotation. In this process, the ore is mixed with special reagents and agitated by mechanical and pneumatic devices that produce air bubbles. As these rise through the mixture, the sulfide particles adhere to their surfaces and are collected as a concentrate containing 6 to 12 percent nickel. The waste material, or tailings, is frequently run through a second cleaning step

before it is discarded. Because some nickel-bearing sulfides are magnetic, magnetic separators can be used in place of, or in conjunction with, flotation. In cases such as the Sudbury deposit, where the copper content of the ore is almost equal to that of nickel, the concentrate is subjected to a second selective flotation whereby the copper is floated to produce a low-nickel copper concentrate and a separate nickel concentrate, each to be processed in its respective smelting line.

Nickel concentrates may be leached with sulfuric acid or ammonia, or they may be dried and smelted in flash and bath processes, as is the case with copper. Nickel requires higher smelting temperatures (in the range of 1,350 °C [2,460 °F]) in order to produce an artificial nickel-iron sulfide known as matte, which contains 25 to 45 percent nickel. In the next step, iron in the matte is converted to an oxide, which combines with a silica flux to form a slag. This is done in a rotating converter of the type used in copper production. The slag is drawn off, leaving a matte of 70 to 75 percent nickel. Because the conversion of nickel sulfide directly to metal would require an extremely high temperature (in excess of 1,600 °C [2,910 °F]), the removal of sulfur at this stage of the converting process is controlled in order to produce the 70–75 percent nickel matte, which has a lower melting point. On the other hand, the relatively high ratio of sulfur (a major pollutant) to nickel in most nickel concentrates increases the burden of sulfur containment in the smelters.

Various processes are used to treat nickel matte. One process is the ammonia pressure leach, in which nickel is recovered from solution using hydrogen reduction, and the sulfur is recovered as ammonium sulfate for use as fertilizer. In another, the matte may be roasted to produce high-grade nickel oxides; these are subjected to a pressure leach, and the solution is electro- and carbonyl refined. In electrorefining, the nickel is deposited onto pure nickel cathodes from sulfate or chloride solutions. This is done in electrolytic cells equipped with diaphragm compartments to prevent the passage of impurities from anode to cathode. In carbonyl refining, carbon monoxide is passed through the matte, yielding nickel and iron carbonyls [Ni(CO)4 and Fe(CO)5]. Nickel carbonyl is a very toxic and volatile vapour that, after purification, is

decomposed on pure nickel pellets to produce nickel shot. Copper, sulfur, and precious metals remain in the residue and are treated separately.

From laterite oresBeing free of sulfur, laterite nickel deposits do not cause a pollution problem as do the sulfide ores, but they do require substantial energy input, and their mining can have a detrimental effect on the environment (e.g., soil erosion). The range of process options is limited by the nature of the ore. Being oxides, laterites are not amenable to conventional concentration processes, so that large tonnages must be smelted. In addition, they contain large amounts of water (in the range of 35 to 40 percent) as moisture and chemically bound in the form of hydroxides. Drying of moisture and removal of the chemically bound water are therefore major operations. These are carried out in large rotary-kiln furnaces. Dryers 50 metres long and 5.5 metres in diameter are common, while reduction kilns 5 to 6 metres in diameter and more than 100 metres long are required to handle the large tonnages of ore and to provide the necessary retention time.

Next, it is necessary to reduce the oxide to nickel metal. Electric furnaces rated at 45 to 50 megavolt-amperes and operating at 1,360 ° to 1,610 °C (2,480 ° to 2,930 °F) are standard in modern laterite nickel smelters. The high magnesia content in most laterite ores and the liquidus temperature of the furnace products necessitate these higher smelting temperatures, which in turn make necessary an extensive system of cooling blocks within the refractory lining of the furnace. In some plants, sufficient sulfur is added to produce a furnace matte that can be further processed like matte from a sulfide smelter. However, the majority of laterite smelters produce a crude ferronickel, which, after refining to remove impurities such as silicon, carbon, and phosphorus, is marketed as an alloying agent in steel manufacture.

The metal and its alloysPure nickel possesses a useful combination of properties, including corrosion resistance, good strength, and high ductility, even at extremely low temperatures. It also possesses useful electronic properties and special magnetic properties. Nickel is a particularly good catalyst for the hydrogenation of unsaturated compounds in vegetable, animal, and fish oils, converting them from liquids to solids. Natural oils treated in this way are used in such products as shortening, oleomargarine, and soap.

Nickel is essential as the base for oxide-coated cathodes used in all television tubes and all but the largest radio power tubes. Alloyed with about 2 percent tungsten plus a trace of magnesium, nickel is used as the cathode base in amplifiers for submarine cables that are expected to function for 20 years without attention.

Nickel also is an essential component of white-gold alloys widely used for jewelry. These alloys also contain nickel, copper, and zinc, all of high purity.

The white colour of nickel is attractive, and most of its alloys with copper are substantially white. Its ability to form strong, ductile alloys with many metals, including iron, chromium, cobalt, copper, and gold, is utilized in industry.

Nickel platingNickel is resistant to corrosion by fluorine, alkalies, and a variety of organic materials. It remains bright on indoor exposure but tarnishes outdoors, although its corrosion rate is very low. Its low corrosion rate, coupled with its resistance to corrosion by sodium chloride and other chlorides used on roads during the winter, makes it essential as an undercoat on chromium-plated automotive trim. Heavy nickel plating is employed as a lining for tank cars and as a coating for the inner walls of large pipes and similar equipment in the chemical industry.

Copper-nickelThe addition of copper to nickel provides a series of useful alloys. Monel metal, 67 percent nickel and the balance essentially copper, is stronger than nickel and has broad corrosion-resisting applications. Extremely resistant to rapidly flowing seawater, it has many marine uses. The addition of a small percentage of aluminum and titanium renders it precipitation-hardenable; this high-strength version is widely used for propeller shafts. Increasing copper to 55 percent produces the electrical resistance alloy known as constantan, which is used as a thermocouple in conjunction with pure copper.

The 30 percent and 10 percent nickel-copper alloys, usually containing 0.5 percent and 1.5 percent iron, are widely used in the form of tubes for heat interchangers and condensers. Their resistance to seawater corrosion makes them important in desalination plants. Copper-based alloys containing a small percentage of nickel become precipitation-hardenable if 5–8 percent tin or a smaller amount of silicon or phosphorus is added. These have special uses.

The ancient Chinese alloy pai-t’ung, now known as nickel-silver, contains 10–30 percent nickel with the balance copper plus zinc. This alloy continues as a favoured base for silver-plated ware. It also is used as a spring material for relays and has numerous other applications.

An alloy of 25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper, essentially white in colour, was adopted for coinage by Belgium in 1860 and by the United States five years later. More recently it has been employed as the outer layer of copper-centred coins. Pure nickel was adopted by the Swiss for coinage in 1881; this use has spread to many other countries.

Magnetic alloysThe fact that nickel changes in length as it is magnetized makes it useful as an ultrasonic transducer in various underwater defense devices. Alloying nickel with about 21 percent iron has

a spectacular effect in producing alloys with extraordinarily high magnetic permeability in weak fields. This type of alloy, known as Permalloy, discovered at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1916, has had a great value in long-distance telephone transmission, including undersea cables. Other alloys of about 45–50 percent nickel and the balance iron, have been developed for magnetic uses at higher field strengths.

A remarkable group of nickel-containing permanent-magnet alloys was developed beginning in Japan in the early 1930s. An early example contained 25 percent nickel, 12 percent aluminum, and the balance iron. More powerful versions, such as Alnico V (containing 8 percent aluminum, 14 percent nickel, 24 percent cobalt, 3 percent copper, balance iron), developed in the Netherlands, were heat-treated in a magnetic field. These materials had a profound effect on the design of many electrical devices, including magnetic separators, DC motors, and automobile generators.

Thermal-expansion alloysInvar, an alloy containing 36 percent nickel, with the balance iron, is notable for its extremely small thermal expansion. Discovered in 1898, it has, along with later-developed nickel alloys, many applications ranging from thermostats to balance wheels for watches, metal-to-glass seals essential to electric lights, and radio tubes.

High-strength steelsThe first major market for nickel was in the production of nickel and nickel-chromium steels for armour plate, an application based on the work of James Riley of Glasgow, Scot., in 1889 and tests by the U.S. Navy in 1891 on armour plate from a French steel producer. Military demands supported the industry for many years, but, with the development of steam-turbine power plants, the automobile, agricultural machines, and aircraft, a whole new group of high-strength steels containing from 0.5 to about 5 percent nickel along with other metals such as chromium and molybdenum were developed. More recently, with a demand for steels for ultralow-temperature use with liquefied gases, steel of 9 percent nickel and alloys of higher nickel content have come into demand. These steels rely on carbon for hardening by heat treatment. The nickel toughens the steel and slows the hardening process so that larger sections can be heat-treated. A carbon-free iron alloy known as maraging steel has been developed. It contains 18 percent nickel, plus cobalt, titanium, and molybdenum. This alloy can be heat-treated to provide a tensile strength of some 2,000 megapascals (i.e., 21,000 kilograms per square centimetre, or 300,000 pounds per square inch), coupled with an elongation of 5 to 10 percent.

Heat-resistant alloysNickel is resistant to oxidation at high temperatures and to electrical erosion. For these reasons, alloys that are high in nickel, such as the 4 percent manganese alloy, are used for spark plug electrodes in automobiles and for other types of ignitors. The addition of 15–20 percent of chromium to nickel vastly improves oxidation resistance so that such alloys are used for electric resistance heaters. Alloys containing 15–20 percent chromium, plus various amounts of iron, and

an alloy containing 35 percent chromium, 20 percent nickel, with the balance iron, find extensive industrial use where high strength and corrosion resistance over a wide range of temperatures are essential. The addition of small amounts of aluminum and titanium permits the alloy that is high in nickel and chromium to be further strengthened by precipitation treatment. Alloys of this general type made the jet-aircraft engine possible. Gas turbines require the same alloys and are growing in importance for industrial power uses.

Stainless steelsA large group of alloy steels ranging from 18 percent chromium, 8 percent nickel, and 25 percent chromium, 20 percent nickel, to 20 percent chromium, 35–40 percent nickel are employed where corrosion resistance is a major requirement. The stainless steels, of which the 18-percent-chromium–8-percent-nickel variety is the best known, are widely employed where stain and corrosion resistance must be coupled with high strength. The largest single use of nickel is in the production of stainless steel.

Chemical compoundsThe compound nickel sulfate hexahydrate, NiSO4 · 6H2O, is employed in the electrolytic refining of nickel as well as in most nickel electroplating baths. Nickel chloride hexahydrate, NiCl2 · 6H2O, is often used in conjunction with the sulfate in plating baths; while the nickel sulfamate, Ni(SO3NH2) · 4H2O, and the nickel fluoborate, Ni(BF4)2, are employed in some of the newer types of electroplating baths.

Nickel dimethylglyoxime is an insoluble salt useful in analytical chemistry in precipitating nickel. Nickel carbonyl, Ni(CO)4, a liquid at room temperature, is employed in the carbonyl nickel-refining process. Like all other carbonyls, it is poisonous. Nickel subsulfide, Ni3S2, is the nickel component of matte involved in pyrometallurgy. Nickel oxide, NiO, is involved in refining processes and also may be an end product.

MATERIAL BALANCEPositive (nickel) electrode dischargeNiOOH+ H20+ e-< ~Ni(OH)2+ OH-[1]Charge discharge102+H20+2e----2OH-[2]chargeNegative(cadmium)electrodedischargeCd+ 2OH-~~"Cd(OH)2+ 2e-[3]chargedischarge12OH-CO2+H202e charge

SAFETY

Nickel is a metal, commonly used to make coins, magnets, jewelry, stainless steel, electronics, and components of industrial machines. Most people are familiar with the attractive mirror-finish that can be achieved by nickel plating. However, despite the beautiful appearance, nickel exposure, especially in industrial and occupational settings, can present significant health hazards.

Effects of Nickel ExposureNickel is one of many carcinogenic metals known to be an environmental and

occupational pollutant. The New York University School of Medicine warns that chronic exposure has been connected with increased risk of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurological deficits, developmental deficits in childhood, and high blood pressure.

Nickel exposure introduces free radicals which lead to oxidative damage and may also affect the kidneys and liver. In 2012, Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture administered liver function tests to 25 nickel-plating workers. Results showed they overwhelmingly suffered from compromised liver function.

Health effects of nickelNickel is a compound that occurs in the environment only at very low levels. Humans use

nickel for many different applications. The most common application of nickel is the use as an ingredient of steal and other metal products. It can be found in common metal products such as jewelry.

 

Foodstuffs naturally contain small amounts of nickel. Chocolate and fats are known to contain severely high quantities. Nickel uptake will boost when people eat large quantities of vegetables from polluted soils. Plants are known to accumulate nickel and as a result the nickel uptake from vegetables will be eminent. Smokers have a higher nickel uptake through their lungs. Finally, nickel can be found in detergents.

Humans may be exposed to nickel by breathing air, drinking water, eating food or smoking cigarettes. Skin contact with nickel-contaminated soil or water may also result in nickel exposure. In small quantities nickel is essential, but when the uptake is too high it can be a danger to human health.

An uptake of too large quantities of nickel has the following consequences:- Higher chances of development of lung cancer, nose cancer, larynx cancer and prostate cancer- Sickness and dizziness after exposure to nickel gas- Lung embolism- Respiratory failure- Birth defects- Asthma and chronic bronchitis- Allergic reactions such as skin rashes, mainly from jewelry- Heart disorders

Nickel fumes are respiratory irritants and may cause pneumonitis. Exposure to nickel and its compounds may result in the development of a dermatitis known as “nickel itch” in sensitized individuals. The first symptom is usually itching, which occurs up to 7 days before skin eruption

occurs. The primary skin eruption is erythematous, or follicular, which may be followed by skin ulceration. Nickel sensitivity, once acquired, appears to persist indefinitely.

Carcinogenicity- Nickel and certain nickel compounds have been listed by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) as being reasonably anticipated to be carcinogens. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has listed nickel compounds within group 1 (there is sufficient evidence for carcinogenicity in humans) and nickel within group 2B (agents which are possibly carcinogenic to humans). OSHA does not regulate nickel as a carcinogen. Nickel is on the ACGIH Notice of Intended Changes as a Category A1, confirmed human carcinogen.

VI. CONCLUSIONWhile the basis and common theory behind nickel is for the most important workable and certainly valid, there are both glaring issues and more obsecure issues which take away from the general viability of his justification suggestions. Although both issues may seem relatively trivial, they are still evedince of great contradictions in nickel and argumentsand logic which regretablly from his approach as a whole leaving itslightly weaker than nickel seems to percieve. The author suggests that nickel clarifies how exactly one could reconcile the priniples of desert with his non –consequential.Materials flow modeling closes existing data gaps Provides stakeholders with important data & information to define adequate measures Regulatory Industrial The Nickel industry will continue its efforts