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 components per million, so magnesium makes up about 0.1% of seawater by weight.) If you happen to 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 (virtually 1,300 °F) and runs electrical energy by the molten salt to separate the magnesium from the chlorine, forming magnesium metallic.
Usually, operating an electrolyzer on this course of would require a gentle supply of electrical energy. The temperature is mostly saved simply excessive sufficient to take care of the salt in a molten state. Permitting it to chill down an excessive amount of would permit it to solidify, messing up the method and doubtlessly damaging the tools. Heating it up greater than mandatory would simply waste vitality.
Magrathea’s method builds in flexibility. Mainly, the corporate runs its electrolyzer about 100 °C greater than is critical to maintain the molten salt a liquid. It then makes use of the additional warmth in ingenious methods, together with to dry out the magnesium salt that finally goes into the reactor. This preparation might be accomplished intermittently, so the corporate can soak up 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, referred to as magnesium oxide, that can be utilized to entice carbon dioxide from the environment, serving to to cancel out the remaining carbon air pollution.
The consequence could possibly be a manufacturing course of with net-zero emissions, based on an unbiased life cycle evaluation accomplished in January. Whereas it probably received’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 at the moment, Grant says.
Breaking into magnesium manufacturing received’t be easy, says Simon Jowitt, director of the Nevada Bureau of Mines and of the Heart for Analysis in Financial Geology on the College of Nevada, Reno.