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

这个STTR一期项目解决了在制造用于汽车轻量化的金属镁中嵌入能源的问题。如果使用传统方法生产镁，通过加入轻金属，特别是镁来提高燃料经济性，并不能节省整个生命周期消耗的能源。已知最节能的生产方法是一种工艺技术，在第二次世界大战期间具有商业可行性，但在历史上任何其他时期都没有。该项目的创新是基于对这一过时过程的重新调查和改造，发现并解决技术和经济失败的原因。采用最先进的节能实践的国内镁生产将为下游制造方法带来机会和增长，这些制造方法支持广泛的军事、工业和消费产品，如汽车零部件、电子设备、钛生产和罐装饮料。在过去的100年里，镁金属的使用前所未有地增加，并且预计这种采用速度将持续下去，从长远来看，这项创新的经济和环境效益将更加有先见之明。采用碳热化学法生产镁可以在1250℃以下的温度下实现，使用三个操作参数的组合：1)减压气氛，2)添加催化材料，3)大量缩小反应物材料的尺寸。与连续冷凝和收集系统相结合，与主要的Pidgeon工艺相比，该工艺生产的镁需要至少减少50%的能耗和温室气体排放。该项目将采用多种高温实验系统和方法，研究球团化反应物的性能，并获得85%以上的金属回收率。一个优化的组成将被统计确定，并用于低温原型反应器系统连续生产粗镁。该项目的目标是生产铸造镁产品，并通过技术经济分析证明降低能源强度和经济可行性。

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.