STTR Phase I: Continuous Production and Collection of Magnesium via Carbothermal Reduction

该STTR第一阶段项目解决了用于车辆轻量化的镁金属制造中的嵌入式能源问题。如果使用常规方法生产镁，则通过掺入轻金属（尤其是镁）来提高燃料经济性不会节省总生命周期能量消耗。已知的最节能的生产方法是一种在第二次世界大战期间商业上可行的工艺技术，但在历史上的任何其他时期都不可行。项目创新是基于对这一过时工艺的重新调查和改造，发现并解决技术和经济失败的原因。国内镁生产使用拟议的最先进的能源效率的做法将导致下游制造方法的机会和增长，支持广泛的军事，工业和消费产品，如汽车零件，电子设备，钛生产和罐装饮料。鉴于过去100年来镁金属的使用量空前增加，并且预计这种采用率将持续下去，从长远来看，这项创新的经济和环境效益将更具先见之明。使用碳热化学法生产镁可以在低于1250 ℃的温度下使用三个操作参数的组合来实现：1）减压气氛，2）添加催化材料，和3）反应物材料的广泛尺寸减小。结合连续冷凝和收集系统，与主要的Pidgeon工艺相比，从该工艺生产的镁需要至少减少50%的能耗和温室气体排放。该项目将采用各种高温实验系统和方法来研究粒状反应物材料的性能，并获得85%以上的金属回收率。优化的组成将被统计确定并用于连续生产粗镁的低温原型反应器系统中。本项目的目标是生产一种铸造镁合金产品，并通过技术经济分析，证明其降低能耗和经济可行性。

This STTR Phase I project addresses the problem of embedded energy in the manufacture of magnesium metal for use in vehicle light-weighting. Improving fuel economy by incorporation of light metals, especially magnesium, does not save on total lifecycle energy consumed if the magnesium was produced using conventional methods. The most energy efficient production method known is a process technology that was commercially viable during the 2nd World War but not at any other time in history. The project innovation is based on reinvestigation and reinvention of this dated process, discovering and addressing the reasons for technical and economic failure. Domestic magnesium production using the proposed state-of-the-art energy-efficient practices will lead to opportunity and growth for downstream manufacturing methods that support a wide range of military, industrial, and consumer products such as car parts, electronic devices, titanium production, and canned beverages. The economic and environmental benefits of the innovation in the long term will be ever more prescient given the unprecedented rise in use of magnesium metal over the past 100 years and expected continuance of this rate of adoption. Production of magnesium using carbothermic chemistry can be realized at temperatures below 1250 degree C using a combination of three operational parameters: 1) reduced pressure atmosphere, 2) addition of a catalytic material, and 3) extensive size reduction of the reactant materials. In conjunction with a continuous condensation and collection system, magnesium produced from this process entails at least a 50% reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions compared to the predominant Pidgeon process. The project will employ a variety of high temperature experimental systems and methods to investigate performance of pelletized reactant materials and obtain recovered metal yields above 85%. An optimized composition will be statistically determined and used in a low-temperature prototype reactor system for continuous production of crude magnesium. The goal of the project is to produce a casted magnesium product and prove the reduction of energy intensity and economic feasibility with a techno-economic analysis.