While studying the Sutlej River bottom dust under the project called Analysis of Seismic Data, Dr. Resmi Sebastian and the team accidentally detected the presence of rare Tantalum Metal particles in the river dust.
Dr. Resmi is working as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, at IIT Ropar, Punjab. Her research areas are rock mechanics, wave propagation, crack propagation, earthquake geotechnical engineering, sustainable techniques in geotechnical engineering, etc.
Where Tantalum is used?
Tantalum (73) is a rare metal, (do not confuse it with rare earth minerals). Rare metals are collections of metallic elements that are used in emerging technologies. So, Tantalum is extensively used in the electronics and semiconductor industry due to its high melting point and rust resistance.
Some rare metal includes Tantalum, Niobium (Chemically similar to Tantalum), Lithium, Cobalt, Gallium, etc. Tantalum is also used in the production of capacitors, surgical implants, and other high-tech components.
Various Applications of Tantalum
| Tantalum Product | Application |
|---|---|
| Tantalum carbide | Cutting tools |
| Lithium tantalate | Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filters in mobile phones, hi-fi stereos and televisions |
| Tantalum oxide | Lenses for spectacles, digital cameras and mobile phones, X-ray film |
| Tantalum powder | Tantalum capacitors for electronic circuits in: Medical appliances such as hearing aids and pacemakers; Automotive components such as ABS, airbag activation, engine management modules, GPS. Portable electronics e.g. laptop computers, cellular/mobile phones, video cameras, digital still cameras; – other equipment such as DVD players, flat-screen TVs, games consoles, battery chargers, power rectifiers, cellular/mobile phone signal masts, oil well probes |
| Tantalum fabricated sheets and plates | Chemical process equipment including lining, cladding, tanks, valves, heat exchangers. Cathodic protection systems for steel structures such as bridges, water tanks – Corrosion resistant fasteners, screws, nuts, bolts. Spinnerettes in synthetic textile manufacture |
| Tantalum fabricated sheets, plates, rods, wires | Prosthetic devices for humans Hip joints, skull plates, mesh to repair bone removed after damage by cancer, suture clips, stents for blood vessels High temperature alloys for: Air and land based turbines (e.g. jet engine discs, blades and vanes) Rocket nozzles |
| Tantalum ingot | Computer hard drive discs Explosively Formed Projectile for TOW-2 missile |
Who first discovered the Tantalum metal?
A Swedish chemist, Anders Gustaf Ekenberg first discovered Tantalum in 1802. Ekenberg obtained Tantalum from Ytterby, Sweden. The Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center established The Anders Gustaf Ekeberg Tantalum Prize (“Ekeberg Prize”) in 2018, The prize will increase awareness of the unique characteristics of the Tantalum Metal.
Presence of Tantalum in the Sutlej River
The sources say that the movement of tectonic plates in the Himalayan region may be a contributing factor to the presence of Tantalum in the Sutlej River. Or maybe industrial waste from the factories located around the Satluj River origin point e.g., Tibet (China). So far researchers are not sure about the source of deposit of the Tantalum in the Sutlej River.
How Tantalum is important for the Indian economy?
The discovery of Tantalum in India has the potential to have significant benefits for the country’s industrial and technological development. The capacitor industry is the largest market for the Tantalum metal. Tantalum powder and wire are used to make high-reliability capacitors for many electronics, including laptop computers, cell phones, as well as automotive and consumer electronics. Another important use is in the medical industry where tantalum “pins” are used for hip-joint replacements, as it is the only metal not rejected by the body. These are the commodities that have a global market.
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