CSIRO is working with Enirgi Group to develop, validate and commercialise a low-emission supersonic technology for produce magnesium at lower costs.
The MagSonic technology, developed by CSIRO, is able to produce magnesium using up to 80 percent less energy, while creating up to 60 percent less carbon dioxide emissions, thanks to the core of the technology, a supersonic nozzle.
MagSonic uses carbothermal reduction and a supersonic nozzle to efficiently produce high quality magnesium. The process heats magnesium oxide with carbon to extreme temperatures, which causes the materials to react with each other, producing magnesium vapour and carbon monoxide.
Once vapourised, the gases pass through a supersonic nozzle at four times the speed of sound, a process which cools the gases in milliseconds. The speed of this cooling is critical, to prevent the magnesium from re-oxidising. The magnesium vapour is thus condensed and solidified to magnesium metal powder.
The mixture of cooled gases and magnesium powder is drawn into a cyclone, where a swirling motion separates the powder, which moves downwards, from the gas. Due to the reactive nature of magnesium powder, it is kept away from oxygen sources, purified, then cast into slabs.
Magnesium is the lightest of all metals, and demand for the metal is one the rise, driven by car manufacturers who are using it to make lightweight, low-emission vehicles. With this growing demand, the partners say this new technology could help reinvigorate the metal production industry in Australia.
Once the technology is ready for commercialisation, Enirgi Group will have the option to take up an exclusive global license for the technology, which will allow it to build the first commercial-scale magnesium production facility using the MagSonic technology in Australia.
Dr Mark Cooksey, who leads CSIRO's sustainable process engineering group, said commercialisation of MagSonic would help Australian industry take advantage the continent's abundant reserves of magnesite ore that remain largely untapped.
Traditional processes for producing magnesium metal from the ore has been too expensive and labour intensive, Dr Cooksey explained, limiting the growth of magnesium use.
"Our MagSonic technology offers an economically-viable solution to overcome these issues and make clean magnesium more available and affordable to manufacturers," he said.
This technology will have a two-fold benefit for the environment — it will benefit the electric vehicle manufacturing industry, while substantially reducing the carbon emissions from magnesium production processes.
[Image: CSIRO's T-mag magnesium casting technology was used to make this strong, light weight wheel rim. Credit: CSIRO]