IN SUMMARY
With the upcoming European battery regulations, it will be essential to have primary or representative secondary data. This LCA study, which went through a critical panel review, aims to provide insights into what the range of climate change impacts can be for different production pathways, and to provide context to the main drivers of these differences.
The pathways covered in the study are Canadian sulfide ore via pyrometallurgy, Indonesian laterite ore via high pressure acid leaching (HPAL), and Indonesian laterite ore processed into nickel pig iron (NPI) and nickel matte using pyrometallurgy (RKEF). The functional unit is one kilogram of nickel in nickel sulfate hexahydrate. This is a cradle-to-gate study: impacts are measured from initial ore extraction up to nickel sulfate hexahydrate ready for shipment at the final processing facility.
Key findings at a glance
Canadian nickel sulfide via pyrometallurgy has the lowest climate change impact, helped by exothermic smelting, Ontario’s low-carbon grid and co-product allocation.
Indonesian nickel laterite via HPAL sits in the middle of the range.
Indonesian nickel laterite via RKEF has the highest impact, driven by high thermal and electrical energy demand met by coal.
Chemical processing is the largest driver for all three routes, with energy from fossil fuels and electricity the main contributors.
Production & comparison study
For each of the three routes, the relative impact of mining, upgrading, chemical processing and transport of intermediates has been quantified, along with the specific drivers of climate change impact at each stage. For the assumptions in the study, Canadian nickel sulfide ore has the lowest climate change impact, followed by fossil fuel-powered HPAL processing of laterite ore in Indonesia, with production of nickel matte via RKEF having the highest.
Climate change value proposition
The Canadian pathway benefits from access to low-carbon electricity, compared with fossil energy in Indonesia, and from copper, cobalt, platinum, palladium and gold in the ore, accounted for using a combination of mass-based and economic allocation. Sensitivity scenarios show that if the Canadian ore had no co-products, and the Indonesian HPAL plant sourced all its energy from an on-site sulfuric acid plant, nickel sulfate hexahydrate from sulfide and laterite ore could have a climate change impact of the same order of magnitude. This matters as Indonesia emerges as a nickel powerhouse, while supply from Canada is limited.
