Manganese Nodules Uses

Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol mn and atomic number 25.

Manganese nodules uses. An additional potential source of manganese is the ferromanganese nodules and crusts that occur on the seafloor in many parts of the world s oceans. Metal rich clumps together with cobalt crusts manganese nodules are considered to be the most important deposits of metals and other mineral resources in the sea today. The growth types termed diagenetic and hydrogenetic. Historically manganese is named for pyrolusite and other black minerals from the.

It is not found as a free element in nature not verified in body. Manganese ores containing iron oxides are first reduced in blast furnaces or electric furnaces with carbon to yield ferromanganese which. Manganese iv oxide is used as a catalyst a rubber additive and to decolourise glass that is coloured green by iron impurities. Manganese oxide minerals have been used for thousands of years by the ancients for pigments and to clarify glass and today as ores of mn metal catalysts and battery material.

Over millions of years minerals are deposited around a core. Manganese nodules and encrustations crusts together with micronodules are ferromanganese oxide deposits which contain variable amounts of other elements table 1 they occur throughout the oceans although the economically interesting varieties have a much more restricted distribution. Manganese ii oxide is a powerful oxidising agent and is used in quantitative analysis. It is of particular importance in the creation of alloys of steel and aluminum but the uses of manganese extend to other industrial areas outside of metallurgy manganese is important in nutrition as well.

Manganese nodules on the southern pacific ocean floor. Most of the manganese produced is used in the form of ferromanganese and silicomanganese alloys for iron and steel manufacture. Courtesy of the lamont doherty geological observatory columbia university. Manganese is used in many industrial metallurgical processes.

It is also used to make fertilisers and ceramics. Manganese sulfate is used to make a fungicide. Manganese nodules are spherical to oblate in shape and range in size from less than 1 cm in diameter up to. Sedimentary nodules which have a lower mn 2 content than diagenetic are dominated by fe vernadite mn feroxyhyte and asbolane buserite while diagenetic nodules are dominated by buserite i birnessite todorokite and asbolane buserite.

Gregory hanson last modified date. July 30 2020. More than 30 mn oxide minerals occur in a wide variety of geological settings. These bean to potato sized nodules are currently the target of exploration and research mostly focused on the equatorial pacific ocean.

They are major components of mn nodules that pave huge areas of the ocean floor and bottoms of many fresh water lakes. It is often found in minerals in combination with iron manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy uses particularly in stainless steels. If production of these nodules proves.