Page 186 - CW E-Magazine (21-11-2023)

Special Report

portant ones for the energy transition. available and is expected to face no India also laid out economic importance
There is a huge concentration of these major resource depletion soon. Proton and supply risk, as typical parameters
minerals in some regions; for example, exchange membrane electrolysis uses to classify the criticality of minerals.
85% of iridium and 55% of platinum precious metals such as platinum and Accordingly, a high-power committee of
globally is in South Africa. About 70% iridium. the Government of India identified 51
of the global cobalt supply for lithium- elements as critical including six rare
ion batteries come from the Democratic SOECs are at an earlier stage of earths and 17 belonging to the platinum
Republic (DR) of Congo. China, the development and has potentially higher group (Table 3).
global leader in mining rare earth met- efficiencies and reversibility. They use
als, accounted for 70% of world pro- nickel and rare earth elements like The Ministry of Mines, Govern-
duction in 2022 and controls almost lanthanum, yttrium, and zirconium. ment of India, has established a Centre
95% of the supply. China has substan- of Excellence for Critical Minerals
tial control over mines for these mine- India proposed to produce 500-GW (CECM) to focus on:
rals in Chile, Peru, and DRC. Major of renewable power by 2030, from the Identifying more efficient ways for

importers of rare earth metals are the current level of 150-GW. The Econo- discovering next generation critical
US, EU, and Japan. mic Survey 2022-23 projects a compound mineral deposits;
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49% Support building up of new re-

India’s requirements of critical in the domestic electric vehicles (EV) search and analytical infrastructure
minerals market by 2030 from 10-lakh units in required to support the country’s
Even though India has some unex- 2022. critical mineral demand;
plored reserves of some of these mine- Provide the necessary support and
rals, for most of the current require- A similar growth impetus is expec- coordinate with other Ministries/
ments imports prevail. ted in digital devices and smart sensors. Departments in framing policies
Besides, Government of India has plans and incentive schemes required for
The National Green Hydrogen to venture deep into electronics and creating a complete value chain of
Mission plans to develop 5-mtpa of green semiconductor manufacturing. Some critical minerals in the country;
hydrogen capacity by 2030 and will of these minerals will be abundantly Collaborate with international agen-

need an equivalent electrolyser capa- required to support the above growth in cies for the strategic acquisition of
city of 60-100 GW. Green hydrogen manufacturing to produce solar panels, foreign assets on critical minerals;
electrolysers need critical minerals like wind turbines, batteries, EVs, and light- Monitor and prepare the exploration
platinum, cobalt, nickel, iridium, tanta- ing devices. strategy under Ministry of Mines;
lum, gadolinium, zirconium, lanthanum, and
cerium and yttrium for construction In line with international practice, Periodically update the list of criti-

of cells. Four types of electrolyser Table 3: Critical minerals identified by India
technologies are available, of which
two are still under development. Popu- Category Elements
lar among them are Alkaline Electro- General metals Antimony (Sb), Beryllium (Be), Bismuth (Bi), Cobalt (Co), Copper
lysis Cell (AEC) and Anion Exchange (Cu), Gallium (Ga), Germanium (Ge), Graphite (C), Hafnium (Hf),
Membrane (AEM) technologies. Proton Indium (In), Lithium (Li), Molybdenum (Mo), Niobium (Nb), Nickel
Exchange Membrane (PEM) and (Ni), Phosphorous (P), Potassium (K), Rhenium (Re), Silicon (Si),
Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) Strontium (Sr), Tantalum (Ta), Tellurium (Tu), Tin (Sn), Titanium
technologies are in the testing phase. (Ti), Tungsten (W), Vanadium (V), Zirconium (Zr), Selenium (Se)
and Cadmium (Cd).
The currently popular and proven Rare Earth Elements Yttrium (Y), Cerium (Ce), Praseodymium (Pr), Scandium (Sc),
AEC technology needs a tonne of (REE) Dysprosium (Dy), and Europium (Eu).
nickel per MW of electrolyser and the
aggregate requirement will be of the Platinum Group Platinum (Pt), Palladium (Pd), Ruthenium (Ru), Rhodium (Rh),
order of 100,000-tonnes over the next Elements (PGE) Osmium (Os), Iridium (Ir), Lanthanum (La), Terbium (Tb),
6-7 years, which we may have to im- Neodymium (Nd), Samarium (Sa), Gadolinium (Gd), Erbium (Er),
Lutetium (Lu), Holmium (Ho), Promethium (Pm), Thulium (Tm),
port. Nickel, which is abundantly used and Ytterbium (Yb).
in the alkaline electrolysers, is readily

186 Chemical Weekly November 21, 2023

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