| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2024 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
High Temperature Electrochemistry: An FMD Symposium Honoring Uday B. Pal
|
| Presentation Title |
The Long Road to SOM Primary Magnesium Production |
| Author(s) |
Adam C. Powell |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Adam C. Powell |
| Abstract Scope |
Uday Pal’s key insight on magnesium metal (Mg) primary production 20 years ago was that the two dominant processes both have major flaws. The Pidgeon process for silicothermic reduction of cheap MgO to produce high-purity Mg is extremely inefficient, and the highly efficient MgCl₂ electrolysis process requires very expensive high-purity anhydrous chloride. Uday’s molten salt electrolysis process with a yttria-stabilized zirconia solid oxide membrane (SOM) has promised the best of both worlds: efficient electrolysis of inexpensive MgO, with Mg metal vapor evolution at the cathode, resulting in inline purification. This talk will discuss the evolution of SOM Mg production and related recycling processes at Boston University, Infinium, and now WPI, with discussion of SOM silicon reduction as well. It will finish with a description of the current plan for MgO electrolysis with reactive liquid metal cathode followed by gravity-driven multiple effect thermal system (G-METS) distillation. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Magnesium, Extraction and Processing, Electrometallurgy |