General Magnesium News. FYI... ....... Fugu Jinwantong Suspends...

General Magnesium News. FYI...

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Fugu Jinwantong Suspends Mg Smelting
Date: 15/05/23 | Magnesium

Fugu Jinwantong magnesium smelter suspended operations on 10th May and has no plan to resume in the short term. The company produced 900 t of magnesium in May, down from 2.8 kt in April.

According to an internal source, the company suspended operations in response to the local authority’s request that all semi-coke furnace under 75 kt capacity must be suspended on 10th May. “Thirteen local magnesium smelters in Fugu are involved. We have semi-coke furnaces with capacity no less than 75 kt in place but are still awaiting notification from the government as to whether these furnaces can be used.”

Designed with 45 ktpy capacity, the company produced 41 kt of magnesium in 2022 and 8.7 kt in Q1 2023. It currently holds 3.2 kt of magnesium in stock.

Mainstream magnesium prices remain stable, standing at RMB 26,300~26,800/t ex-works by cash. Industrial commentators forecast prices to stay firm with some possible uptick over the short-term, while transactions are expected to stagnate.

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IMA Environmental Responsibility Award

Reduction of CO2 emissions by 36,000T

Presented to:

Luxfer MEL Technologies

Areas of Environmental Impact: All Mg-based products

LMT has continually sought to reduce its GHG emissions from production operations. Previous work, including work that gained the IMA award in 2010, had significantly reduced the CO2eq of our products and processes.

Of key importance has been the removal of high GWP cover gas

Large investments were made by LMT to evaluate and trial alternative cover gases.

$0.5m investment in a mixer unit shipped in from the manufacturers in Canada. The liquid to gas system supplies multiple processes, with Novec 612 containing cover gas.

Novec 612 is an active reagent that has a GWP ~1. It is effective at low temperature metal processing but is less effective above ~750˚ C.

During the work, LMT recognized that Novec 612 probably would not work for all its processes, with the intention to ensure that all other processes are optimized for minimal use of R134a.

Approaches:

Due to using a range of open casting systems, temperatures and alloys, a one solution fits all approach was never going to work.

Each casting system needed to be redesigned, reviewing both metallurgical and practical considerations.

Each process was evaluated and a route to emissions reduction was identified.

The processes were then prioritized to achieve the greatest reductions first.

Technologies—Visualization

One of the greatest challenges with designing equipment for large-scale processing is the cost of implementing changes to process equipment.

Along with metallurgical knowledge, the intensive use of 3D CAD and process simulation enables the team to develop and explore changes to processes and estimate how effective the solution would be, accelerating the transition.

As LMT continues this program of CO2eq emission reduction, building this capability and the in-house skills will enable us to take unique approaches to each process and minimize our carbon footprint.

Continued development of infrastructure, tooling, up-skilling of operators and fine-tuning of process methods are all contributing to progress.

Fruits of Our Labor

LMT project to achieve a 66% reduction in CO2eq emissions from magnesium processes in 2022 relative to the average annual emissions between 2013-2021, circa 36,000T of CO2eq p.a.

The continuation of this program looks to achieve a further 55% reductions in 2023 relative to 2022.

2022 Q1 values confirm that LMT is on course to achieve the 66% reduction in 2022.

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IMA Award of Excellence for Future Technologies in Magnesium

(New in 2022)

Magnesium Ion Battery


Congratulations to National Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloys of Chongqing University and Guangdong Guoyan Technology Co., Ltd. of China for the submission, Magnesium Ion Battery.

Name of Part: Magnesium ion battery

Product Using Part: Large-scale as well as portable energy storage devices

Function of Part: The cheap and safe magnesium anode will decrease the price and increase the safety of the battery

Alloy Used: Mg-Gd alloy, Pure Mg metal

Technical Details: Read the supporting paper here

Rechargeable magnesium batteries (RMBs) as a promising alternative have attracted wide interest and research in the past decade owing to high Mg abundance, more transfer electron numbers of Mg2+, higher volumetric capacity and low reduction potential.

More importantly, the uniform deposition behavior of Mg metal anode in some electrolytes endows higher safety for RMBs. The combination of Mg-ion batteries and renewable energy can promote the usage of solar and wind energy and significantly reduce fossil fuel usage. The markets for electric vehicles and bikes have been growing rapidly in recent years due to the development of Li-ion batteries.

The Mg-ion battery can be designed to the same size, voltage and power as that of a Li-ion battery.

The Mg-ion has a comparable capacity, power density, and lower price, which would help the wide use of Mg-ion as a power source for vehicles, bikes and large-scale energy storage.

The manufacturing technology of Mg-ion batteries is more or less the same as that of Li-ion batteries. The main principle of Mg-ion battery assembly is similar to that of the Li-ion battery.

The differences are the materials used for the cathode, anode and electrolyte.

The safety assessment of Mg-ion battery is similar to that of Li-ion battery, including durability test, visual inspection, X-ray test, charge/discharge test, total volatile organic compound (TVOC) test, disassembling test, accelerated usage test and delta open circuit voltage (ΔOCV) test. All these testing techniques and instruments can be directly used for the safety assessment of Mg-ion batteries.

Li-ion battery materials are not environmentally friendly, especially the organic electrolyte or the Co-based cathode materials. By contrast, the Mg-ion battery electrolyte and cathode material are more environmentally friendly.

The manufacturing process of magnesium anode is by smelting and rolling process. There is no need to develop new equipment for preparing the anode.

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To end...

A verse for thought....

"Let the mind be open and by know there are possibilities.

Let the negative remind you, gain come not without risk.

All must be a balanced and a researched perspective.

I have knowledge and wisdom, not just the soul of a pessimist."


Regards

Ken