Developing new mineral-based nano products through ProMine

GTK is the lead organization in the European ProMine project. Designed to reduce the EU’s dependence on imported metals and enhance the Community’s metals capabilities generally, ProMine will help companies develop new mineral-based nanotech products.

There are numerous quantities of unexploited mineral deposits in rock formations across the European Union, with an hypothetical in situ value of around €100 billion for deposits located between 500 and 1,000 metres below the surface. Whether and when these unexploited minerals will be exploited depend on the availability of new exploration and mining technologies and trends in global commodity prices. A comprehensive database will be essential to ensuring that these resources can be accessed as efficiently and effectively as possible.

– Developing a pan-European, GIS-based mineral database is one of the main goals of the ProMine project, according to Juha Kaija, ProMine Project Manager from the GTK.

– Other key goals include assessing the quantities of usable mining waste and strategic minerals and metals. The project will also focus on developing new, eco-efficient benefication methods and new mineral-based hightech products. Nano technology will play a central role in the latter area.

GTK is responsible for coordinating the ProMine project team, which comprises of specialists from research institutions and industry from 11 countries across Europe. In addition to GTK, the other Finnish organisations involved are VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and KCL, Pyhäsalmi Mine Oy, and KWH-Mirka Oy. Sweden’s major mining company Boliden is also involved. The mining industry partners in the ProMine project account for around 70% of metal production in the EU. The other national geological surveys involved come from France, Spain, Greece, and Portugal.

The Management Committee of the ProMine project from left Daniel cassard (BRGM), Witold Kurylak (IMN), Gabor Gaál (GTK), Anna Spiteri (IR MCO), Bertil Grundfelt (KEMAKTATA ), Pierre Heeroma (Boliden), Pär Weihed
(LTU), Patrick d´Hugues (BRGM) and Juha Kaija (GTK). Photo: GTK

Juha Kaija describes the four-year project, which was launched in May this year, as a significant and a demanding one. With a budget of more than €17 million, ProMine is one of the largest projects in the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme covering nanosciences and nanomaterials, and one of the few run by the EU aimed at supporting the mining and metal industries. What makes the project particularly demanding, says Kaija, is that the EU is looking for results that can be applied directly in commercial products.

– It’s a research project first and foremost, but one that’s also very much focused on generating results in terms of new products.

New types of paper and paint

Clear targets for developing nanotech products based on mined resources have been set as part of the ProMine project. Nanotechnology has already generated a number of products in everyday use, such as self-cleaning glass, specialty paints, and paper pigments.

VTT and KCL, a specialist forest products laboratory that was merged with VTT this June, have both been active in developing new paper coating materials. The automotive industry is particularly interested in new types of sanding and grinding materials capable of producing more resilient and consistent paint surfaces. Nano coatings have already been used in Mercedes S-series cars, but recent development work has resulted in sanding materials that are more cost-effective and open up the potential for much wider use of this type of technology.

– We’re talking about a new way of using sidestreams generated by the forest products industry to separate metals from the acidic effluent produced by mining. This is a new and challenging concept, and offers us a number
of very interesting opportunities, according to Ali Harlin of VTT.

Technology to make use of the alkaline silicate minerals contained in mining waste is also under development as part of the ProMine project. Using these minerals will see the CO2-binding component end up as earth fill at the end of the product cycle.

Another important area of research will look at how better use can be made of the metals contained in mine water. When a mine is closed, the workings often contain large quantities of wastewater very rich in metals. Components contained in sidestreams produced by the forest products industry can be used as chelating agents to treat this water. Bacteria can then be introduced to deal with the organic residue, resulting in a precipitate rich in nanoparticles that can be used as a raw material. One of the best-known examples of how this process works in nature is the Rio Tinto in Spain, where the river’s distinctive red colour is the result of copper workings dating back to the Bronze Age.

Stronger concrete

There are numerous other everyday applications for nanotechnology. The concrete industry, for example, is one of those that can benefit. Concrete properties can be enhanced with the help of nanomaterial derived from waste rock from mines to give improved porosity and pourability, resulting in stronger concrete for the same amount of input or similar strength using less input. A team from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands is researching this area, together with Selor and Calduran Kalkzandsteen, a daughter company of CRH, a global player in concretes and construction materials, as part of ProMine.

– These types of concrete, based on the use of synthetic additives, have been available for some time, but they are quite expensive. Using mining waste, it’s possible to achieve the same quality and strength, but probably at a much cheaper price, says Ali Harlin.

Nanotechnology and the ProMine project are set to bring numerous other benefits to a variety of products. This could enable better use to be made of rhenium, a rare metal used in jet engines due to its ability to withstand very high temperatures, for example, and thereby help improve the EU’s self-sufficiency in critical high-value metals.

ProMine comprises three Clusters and six Work Packages

Cluster 1: Resource AssessmenAssessment

The aim of the Cluster Resource Assessement is to ensure that all potential mineral resources (known and implied) within the EU are fully documented and this information is available to the extractive industry. Resource assessment and modelling is being done in the whole EU and in detail in four mineralised belts. Interactive GIS tools will be delivered to define the mineral reserves, which the extractive industries in the EU can exploit to provide raw materials for the manufacturing industries.

The Cluster comprises two Work Packages: WP 1: Geological mineral resource potential modelling across Europe and WP 2: 4D modelling of mineralised belts.

Cluster 2: New products

In this Cluster, new technologies will be created to improve the production of the European extractive industry. Five new high value products based on nano scale raw materials will be delivered on the market. The work will go from laboratory studies through bench scale where a go/no go evaluation will determine demonstration of selected products at extractive sites, where sufficient material will be produced for testing and economic evaluation by industry.

The products to be delivered are: 1) rhenium nano-powders for super alloys in aircraft and aerospace industry, 2) nano-silica for construction and catalyst industries, 3) nano-powders for coating paper, 4) nano iron oxyhydroxy-sulphate for ceramics and 5) metal fibres for high tech industry.

The Cluster comprises two Work Packages: WP 3: New nano-products from mineral exploitation and WP 4: Ecoefficient metal production methods and utilization of secondary materials.

Cluster 3: Sustainability assessment and knowledgeknowledge exploploitation

In this Cluster, the overall impact of the ProMine project will be evaluated and further amplified. The construction of databases of the European mineral resource potential (WP 1) and the modelling of mineralised belts (WP 2) both aim at providing means for efficient planning of resource utilisation. The products developed (WP 3) are largely based on secondary resources / waste material and represent high added value, hence contributing to reducing waste volumes and increasing the potential of the European mineral-based industry. The new production methods developed (WP 4) aim at an efficient utilisation of secondary raw material for metal production and a consequent conservation of primary resources (ore).

This Cluster addresses knowledge exploitation, dissemination and management of technical and non-technical results of ProMine. The target groups are the scientific community and the public authorities at local, regional and EU levels and European stakeholders. It is essential to determine, if the new nano products are sustainable, with a low environmental footprint.

Environmental issues and the socio-economic impact related to the development of these new products will be evaluated and assessed and Life Cycle Analysis will be performed for the new products. The Cluster comprises two Work Packages: WP 5: Assessment of sustainability and environmental impact and WP 6: Knowledge management and exploitation.

TEXT Vesa Tompuri