Groundbreaking research conducted by Macquarie University has revealed new insights into the transportation of metals used in renewable energy technologies from the Earth’s mantle by low temperature, carbon-rich melts.
Dr. Isra Ezad, a postdoctoral research fellow from Macquarie University’s School of Natural Sciences, led an international team in conducting high pressure and high temperature experiments to create small amounts of molten carbonate material at depths of around 90 kilometers in the mantle.
Their findings demonstrated that carbonate melts have the ability to dissolve and transport a variety of critical metals and compounds from the surrounding rocks in the mantle, providing valuable information for future metal prospecting.
“While it was previously known that carbonate melts carried rare earth elements, our research has uncovered additional insights,” explains Dr. Ezad.
“We have shown that this molten rock containing carbon can also absorb sulfur in its oxidized form, as well as dissolve precious and base metals—these are the ‘green’ metals of the future, extracted from the mantle.”
2024-03-24 08:00:04
Post from phys.org