Improving Retrieval of Fertiliser Components

Phosphate ore is an essential part of fertilisers. The depletion of high-grade deposits requires processing low-grade ores, which in turn need different processing steps. To understand these processing steps, one needs to calculate the electronic structure of mineral surfaces and flotation reagent molecules, which, using classical computers, leads to complex, approximate methods.

Quantum computation promises to efficiently deliver accurate electronic structure results for molecules and materials, enabling simulation without approximations and hence improving simulation accuracy and size.

This guarantees high-accuracy analysis of fundamental properties and reaction pathways, potentially leading to better designs of selective flotation reagents to enhance the collection of phosphate ore.