Data obtained from usgs.gov, CM Group’s IMA Update, and the IMA’s LCA Reports from 2013 and 2020, and TMS’s Magnesium Technology Essential Readings
The ATR process reacts a magnesium-bearing ore with aluminum to produce metal and a value-add solid byproduct.
When MgO is used, magnesium aluminate spinel is co-produced; when MgO-CaO is used, the byproduct is calcium aluminate:
4MgO + 2Al = 3Mg + MgAl2O4
3MgO + 3CaO + 2Al = 3Mg + Ca3Al2O6
The USGS notes that magnesium bearing ores are virtually inexhaustible [1].
The EPA notes that 2.5 more aluminum is landfilled in the U.S. alone than there is magnesium metal produced globally [2].
Therefore, Big Blue Technologies’ ATR process is agnostic to the originating ore and can tap into widely available scrap aluminum.
BBT’s ATR process was derived from foundational processing and reactor design techniques developed in collaboration with the University of Colorado at Boulder, leading to a novel condensation method that can be adapted to any thermal pathway.
Total energy consumption calculations show favorable results at < 8 kWh/kg Mg, and no direct carbon emissions. The ATR process, when using scrap aluminum, represents the lowest energy intensity and emissions impact of any magnesium metal production process to date.
OTHER THERMAL PROCESSES
About 85% of the world’s magnesium is currently made in China using the Pidgeon process. Pidgeon is a silicothermic process pathway that requires the use of ferrosilicon. Ferrosilicon is produced by heating carbon with silica and iron, thus requiring two major steps.
China’s mining, labor, and energy rates are highly subsidized to drive the cost floor far below their competitors. Because of Pidgeon’s high energy and labor burden, this process is prohibitively expensive to implement in Europe and North America. However, the low initial capital cost of Pidgeon plants makes them attractive for rapid implementation.
Overall, due to this global supply imbalance and the environmental impact of Pidgeon processes, the need for new, low-capital alternatives has never been more vital.
Electrolysis of magnesium chloride is performed industrially in the U.S., Israel, and Russia. Electrolytic processes require enormous capital investments, chlorine gas handling operations, and expensive dehydration techniques. Yet, most electrolytic processes have substantially less emissions and waste than Pidgeon.
North America has witnessed three major electrolytic plant closures or failures over the past 25 years. Total global market share for electrolytic processes has fallen from 75% to less than 15% since 1998.
Today, China is commissioning a large electrolytic facility as a means of replacing much of their Pidgeon-based capacity. After driving away competitors with cheap Pidgeon magnesium, China is now planning on using the technology that could not compete because of the heavy environmental toll from Pidgeon processing.
One of the biggest challenges facing the magnesium metal supply industry is the lack of available process technologies. When considering a new plant in Europe or North America using conventional silicothermic or electrolytic methods, the basic cost structures are categorically uneconomical with respect to global pricing.
The only way to create a solid anchoring supply industry is to innovate new process technologies.
Development timelines are long, the know-how and expertise are limited, and few have succeeded in bringing to market new industrial process technologies for metals.
Big Blue Technologies’ approach to process development includes rigorous technical de-risking during a lean scale-up routine to avoid process changes at a full plant scale.
By reducing the footprint, environmental impact, and capital burden, Big Blue Technologies’ carbothermic process is well-positioned to reshape an archaic magnesium landscape.
Mg is the 8th most common element in the earth’s crust (including seawater), and is “virtually inexhaustible” (USGS). Finding a suitable ore source is a non-issue; there are simply no suitable technologies to extract metal.
Sujit Das. “Magnesium for automotive applications: Primary process cost assessment.” JOM, 55(2003).