Manganese is a brittle, hard gray-white metal that looks much like iron, and is present in practically everything made of steel. It’s also used in a slew of other applications, including dry cell batteries (about 20 billion per year), aluminum cans (about 100 billion per year), electronic circuits as well as fungicides and pesticides. And although manganese may be fatal to bugs and fungus, it’s vital to our good health as humans: The recommended daily intake of manganese is 2-5 mg per day.
Use
Metallurgical
Both historically and currently, the greatest use of manganese – about 90% – is for production of steel and cast iron, for which no suitable substitute for the metal has yet been found. (The remaining 10% is used in making batteries, chemicals and aluminum cans.)
According to the International Manganese Institute (IMnI), of the manganese used in steelmaking, 70% is used as an alloying element, while the remaining 30% is employed for “its properties as a sulphide former and deoxidant.”
Nonmetallurgical
After steel, the battery sector is currently the second-largest consumer of manganese today. In addition, manganese is used nonmetallurgically in:
Animal feed and fertilizers
Colorants for various cosmetics, plastics and artists’ glazes
Pigments for bricks, frits, glass, paints tiles and textiles
Water treatment chemicals.
from:Rare Metals
