The star of Magrathea’s course of is an electrolyzer, a tool that makes use of electrical energy to separate a fabric into its constituent parts. Utilizing an electrolyzer in magnesium manufacturing isn’t new, however Magrathea’s method represents an replace. “We actually modernized it and introduced it into the twenty first century,” says Alex Grant, Magrathea’s cofounder and CEO.
The entire course of begins with salty water. There are small quantities of magnesium in seawater, in addition to in salt lakes and groundwater. (In seawater, the focus is about 1,300 elements per million, so magnesium makes up about 0.1% of seawater by weight.) In the event you take that seawater or brine and clear it up, focus it, and dry it out, you get a stable magnesium chloride salt.
Magrathea takes that salt (which it presently buys from Cargill) and places it into the electrolyzer. The system reaches temperatures of about 700 °C (nearly 1,300 °F) and runs electrical energy via the molten salt to separate the magnesium from the chlorine, forming magnesium metallic.
Usually, operating an electrolyzer on this course of would require a gradual supply of electrical energy. The temperature is mostly stored simply excessive sufficient to take care of the salt in a molten state. Permitting it to chill down an excessive amount of would enable it to solidify, messing up the method and probably damaging the tools. Heating it up greater than vital would simply waste vitality.
Magrathea’s method builds in flexibility. Mainly, the corporate runs its electrolyzer about 100 °C greater than is important to maintain the molten salt a liquid. It then makes use of the additional warmth in creative methods, together with to dry out the magnesium salt that finally goes into the reactor. This preparation may be achieved intermittently, so the corporate can absorb electrical energy when it’s cheaper or when extra renewables can be found, chopping prices and emissions. As well as, the method will make a co-product, known as magnesium oxide, that can be utilized to lure carbon dioxide from the ambiance, serving to to cancel out the remaining carbon air pollution.
The consequence may very well be a manufacturing course of with net-zero emissions, based on an unbiased life cycle evaluation accomplished in January. Whereas it seemingly gained’t attain this bar at first, the potential is there for a way more climate-friendly course of than what’s used within the trade as we speak, Grant says.
Breaking into magnesium manufacturing gained’t be easy, says Simon Jowitt, director of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and of the Middle for Analysis in Financial Geology on the College of Nevada, Reno.
