What is the use of manganese nodules, manganese nodules are the most abundant resources on the plane

Manganese nodules are mainly found in most ocean basins.

Manganese nodules, also known as polymetallic nodules, manganese ore balls, manganese ore clusters, manganese tumors, etc., are a kind of iron and manganese oxide aggregates, and the color is often black and brownish-black. Manganese nodules have various forms, including spherical, oval, potato-like, grape-shaped, flat, slag-shaped, etc. The size of manganese nodules also varies widely, ranging from a few microns to tens of centimeters, and the largest weighs tens of kilograms.

Manganese nodules exist in the form of a mixture of silicates and insoluble permanganates (permanganate, ferric permanganate, aluminum permanganate, etc.). The contents of various metal components in manganese nodules are approximately: manganese (27-30%), nickel (% copper (%) and cobalt (% other components are iron (6%), silicon (5%) and aluminum (3%), as well as small amounts of calcium, sodium, magnesium, potassium, titanium and barium, with hydrogen and oxygen.

76 metal elements such as copper, cobalt and nickel are mineral resources that are scarce on land, and it is necessary to mine manganese nodules on the seabed to obtain these metals. The United States relies on imports of manganese ore and is also interested in producing manganese from manganese nodules, so the United States attaches the most importance to the development of manganese nodules. The United States is also a leader in the development of technologies for oceanic manganese nodules.

Manganese nodules are widely distributed in the surface layers of the world's oceans at depths of 2000 6 000 m, and the best quality is generated at the bottom of the sea at depths of 4000 6000 m. The total reserves of manganese nodules are estimated at more than 3,000 billion tons. Among them, the North Pacific Ocean is the most widely distributed, accounting for more than half of the reserves, about 1.7 trillion tons.

Where manganese nodules are concentrated, there are more than 100 kilograms per square meter of area, which is literally spread on the seabed one by one. In the world's oceans, its total reserves amount to 10 to the power of 12 to three times the ton.

Manganese nodules are widely distributed on the surface of the seabed at depths of 6,000 meters to 2,000 meters in the world's oceans, and the total reserves of manganese nodules are estimated to exceed 3 trillion tons. Among them, the North Pacific Ocean is the most widely distributed, with more than half of the reserves, about 1 7 trillion tons, and where there are tight manganese nodules, there are more than 100 kilograms per square meter, covering the seabed almost one after the other, and more than 50 manganese nodules areIron oxidesand manganese oxide, which also contains more than 20 elements such as nickel, copper, cobalt, molybdenum, and titanium.

In terms of reserves at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, this manganese nodule contains 400 billion tons of manganese, 16.4 billion tons of nickel, 8.8 billion tons of copper and 9.8 billion tons of cobalt, and its metal resources are hundreds or even thousands of times the total reserves of the land. According to the current level of metal consumption in the world, copper can be **600, nickel can be **15,000 years, manganese can be **24,000 years, cobalt can meet the needs of human beings for 130,000 years, and the most gratifying thing is that this tuberculosis.

The growth is fast, accumulating at a rate of 10 million tons per year.

Thus, manganese tuberculosis will become an inexhaustible autogenous mineral for humans, and there is a more interesting question, and more importantly, this goose-oval black substance is still growing, according to the American scientist Meru.

It is estimated that manganese nodules at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean are growing wildly at a rate of about 10 million tons per year. If the metal is extracted annually only from nascent manganese nodules at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, copper can be used for 3 years, cobalt can be used for 4 years, and nickel can be used for 1 year.

In the 70s of the 20th century, with the development of exploration technology and development technology, the development of manganese nodules appeared in the world. Mainly from the exploration, mining, smelting and environmental protection four aspects of research to strengthen research, Japan is actually one of the most active countries in the research and development of manganese nodules on the seabed, they have invested 80 million US dollars, formulated a nine-year research and development plan.

On the question of what is manganese nodules, where are the main distribution of deep-sea manganese nodule ores, it will be explained here today.

Manganese nodules, also known as polymetallic nodules, are an aggregate of iron and manganese oxides. He has different forms and sizes. Most manganese nodules are found on the surface of the ocean floor at depths of 2,000 to 6,000 m, but are of best quality at depths of 4,000 to 6,000 m.

Manganese nodules are deposited at the bottom of the ocean containing a variety of metal components of the aggregate ore, has great development value, the North Pacific Ocean is the most widely distributed, the largest reserves, but mostly distributed in the deep seabed, mining is also difficult, is now in research and development.

It is an ore that combines manganese metal and other substances, mainly distributed in the deep-sea area of the Pacific Ocean.

According to the survey, there are 10,000 tons of manganese nodules per square kilometer on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean, and the total reserves of manganese nodules in the world's oceans are about 3 trillion tons, including 400 billion tons of manganese, 16.4 billion tons of nickel, 8.8 billion tons of copper and 4.8 billion tons of cobalt, which are dozens or even thousands of times the corresponding reserves on land, and are still being generated at a rate of about 10 million tons per year, which is almost an inexhaustible mineral resource.

There are generally three theories about the formation of manganese nodules:

1) Biogenesis. Manganese nodules are metals found in the bones of marine animals that settle to the bottom of the sea. When they are eaten by benthic microorganisms living on the surface of the nodules, the metals aggregate and gradually cause the manganese nodules to grow.

2) Volcanic genesis. Manganese nodules are formed by the slow alteration of submarine volcanoes and the resulting volcanic rocks, so that the metals contained in the rocks are leached and precipitated.

3) Autobiogenous chemical deposition theory. It is believed that the metal of manganese nodules originates from the pore water of seawater and sediments, and that rivers carry certain metal elements and sediments from the continent to the sea, and form manganese nodules through autobiochemical sedimentation. There is a truth to each of these arguments, and the answer to what is the cause of manganese nodules can only be found in future practice.

Manganese nodules are brown or blue-brown spheres or lumps, also known as manganese ore balls, manganese clumps, and manganese ore tumors. It looks like a potato, with a diameter of 1 20 centimeters, an average of about 5 centimeters, and the largest one is more than 1 meter. If you cut it, the cross-section is in the shape of concentric circles like tree rings, with a nucleus in the center.

Manganese nodule is a polymetallic ore body, generally containing about 27 30 manganese, nickel, copper 1, cobalt, and a certain amount of iron, molybdenum, titanium, zinc and other more than 30 elements, which can be called the "metal family".

Manganese nodules are ore bodies that accumulate on the seabed at depths below 4,000 to 5,000 meters, and were first discovered by British expeditions in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the 70s of the 19th century. Now, there is also great progress in the research of the technology used in it. The international monopoly capital, led by the United States, has formed a joint development company to officially mine and refine manganese nodules.

It is estimated that, after the reform of technology, the cost of extracting important metals such as manganese, nickel, copper, cobalt and other important metals from manganese nodules may be equivalent to only 50 75 of the cost of mining and refining these metals on land. As far as is known, manganese nodules are mainly found in the deep seabed of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, with an average thickness of up to 1 metre. Among them, the ocean floor between 6° 20° north latitude and 160° 180° west longitude in the central Pacific Ocean is the most concentrated, and the particularly dense places can reach 100 kg per square meter; This is followed by the South Pacific, North Pacific, and South Atlantic ocean floors.

There are different accounts of how many manganese nodules are stored in the ocean floor, and it is generally believed to be trillions of 3 trillion tons. Manganese nodules can refine a large number of metals, only manganese, nickel, copper, cobalt four metals total up to 800 billion tons, and the total reserves of these four metals on land in the mid-70s were only 1.1 billion tons, that is, nearly 800 times the reserves on land. Manganese nodules grow very slowly, with one view suggesting an increase of 1 millimetre per 1,000 years or even 1 millimetre per 1 million years, and another suggesting an increase of about 1,100 centimetres per 1,000 years.

Although it grows so slowly, the copper and nickel extracted from the annual growth can be used by the world for several years.

One is that rocks from land, continents or islands are weathered and release elements such as iron and manganese, some of which are carried by ocean currents to the ocean for precipitation.

Second, when a large amount of gas produced by magma eruption interacts with seawater, a certain amount of iron and manganese is removed from the lava, so that more and more manganese and iron in seawater return to the seawater.

The third is from living organisms, plankton are enriched with trace metals, and after they die, the corpses decompose, and the metal elements enter the seawater.

Fourth, it comes from the universe, and relevant data show that the universe will drop 2,000 to 5,000 tons of cosmic dust on the earth every year, which are rich in metal elements and decompose and enter the ocean. As for the cause of manganese nodules, it is believed that the oxides of various metals that settle on the seabed are formed by the continuous aggregation of small particles of other objects under the action of electron gravity in the form of polar molecules. There are also some things about this theory that cannot be justified.

The amount of manganese in seawater is not very much, why does it monopolize the head of the turtle in the manganese nodules? The causes of manganese nodules need to be further studied.

There are also a variety of manganese nodule mining methods that have been studied and tested. There are several successful methods, such as chain fighting method, hydraulic lifting method and air lifting method. The chain bucket type adopts the excavator commandment, just like the old agricultural water wheel, using the winch to drive the rope chain with many buckets to continuously collect the manganese nodules on the seabed onto the working boat.

Hydraulic lifting seabed mining machinery is to use hydraulic power to suck manganese nodules and mud and water from the seabed through ore pipelines. The air lift method is the same as the hydraulic lift principle, except that the manganese nodules are directly sucked into the mining work vessel by using high-pressure air and mud and water.

In the 80s, multinational companies composed of mining enterprises from the United States, Japan, and Germany used these machines to achieve a daily output of 300,500 tons of manganese nodules. In terms of smelting technology, the United States, France, Germany and other countries have also built pilot plants with a daily processing capacity of more than 80 tons of manganese nodules. In short, the mining and smelting of manganese nodules is no longer a technical problem, and once it is economically advantageous, a new industry can be formed and large-scale production can be entered.

The manganese content of some manganese nodules reaches 55%, and in addition to manganese, it also contains more than 20 metal elements such as iron, nickel, copper, cobalt, titanium, etc., and the content is very high. Manganese nodules are rich in metals and are widely used in all aspects of modern society. For example, manganese metal can be used to make manganese steel, which is extremely hard, impact-resistant, wear-resistant, and widely used in the manufacture of tanks, rails, crushers, etc.

The iron contained in manganese nodules is the main raw material for steelmaking, the metal nickel contained in it can be used to make stainless steel, and the metal cobalt contained in it can be used to make special steel. The contained metal, copper, is used in large quantities to make wires. The metal titanium contained in manganese nodules has low density, high strength and high hardness, and is widely used in the aerospace industry, and is known as "space metal".

Manganese nodules are not only abundant, but they also grow continuously. The growth rate varies from time to time and from place to place, with an average length of 1 mm per 1,000 years. Based on this calculation, the global manganese nodules are increasing by 10 million tons per year.

Manganese nodules can be described as an "inexhaustible" renewable polymetallic mineral resource.

Manganese nodules contain a variety of strategic materials, which will inevitably lead to competition for resources. In 1978, Japanese mining vessels successfully harvested manganese nodules by suction and pneumatic lifting. The United States has used 200,000-ton mining vessels to collect manganese nodules from the bottom of the South Pacific Ocean with automatically controlled equipment.