SBIR Phase I: Low-Cost Low-Impact Magnesium Production by Solid Oxide Membrane Electrolysis

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一个数学模型的固体氧化物膜（SOM）电解过程中生产金属镁的氧化物。 该模型将模拟SOM过程中的流体流动和传热传质，以便为工业规模的SOM反应器用于镁生产提供设计工具。 分包商在波士顿大学进行的实验将验证模型并帮助调整其参数。 数学模型还将耦合到成本模型，以预测包括能源、资本和原材料在内的各种成本，并确定工业规模工艺的最具成本效益的规模和配置。 如果成功，这将是第一个从金属氧化物一步生产金属和氧气的工业过程，在过程中任何地方都没有碳或氯。 该模型也将有助于评估SOM工艺生产其他金属的适用性。镁是密度最低的工程金属，也是地壳中第三丰富的金属，具有良好的强度和刚度。 但是，高昂和波动的价格阻碍了它在汽车和其他应用中的广泛应用。 以美国三巨头为首的汽车制造商正在寻求到2020年将汽车的镁合金含量从10-15磅/辆提高到350磅/辆，取代650磅/辆的钢铁和铝部件。 这将使车队的燃油经济性提高1.5-2英里/加仑，每年减少约200亿美元的石油进口支出。 除了镁对车辆效率的影响外，简单有效的SOM工艺可能比用于生产铝的能源少得多，其镁产品可能与它所取代的钢和铝的原材料成本相媲美。 这可能会导致一个新的镁经济，充分利用其重量轻，易于制造的产品，从自行车到冰箱到卡车。 此外，SOM工艺可能会降低生产钛、铜和钽等其他金属的成本和对环境的影响，从而形成新的初级金属工业生态。该奖项由2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》（Public Law 111-5）资助。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a mathematical model of the Solid Oxide Membrane (SOM) electrolysis process for producing magnesium metal from its oxide. This model will simulate fluid flow and heat and mass transfer in the SOM process in order to provide a design tool for an industrial-scale SOM reactor for magnesium production. Experiments performed by the subcontractor at Boston University will validate the model and help to tune its parameters. The mathematical model will also couple to a cost model in order to predict various costs including energy, capital and raw materials and determine the most cost-effective size and configuration of the industrial-scale process. If successful, this will be the first industrial process to produce metal and oxygen from metal oxides in one step with no carbon or chlorine anywhere in the process. This model will also be useful for assessing the fitness of the SOM process to producing other metals.Magnesium is the lowest-density engineering metal and third most abundant metal in the earth's crust with good strength and stiffness. But high and fluctuating prices have prevented its broad utilization in motor vehicles and other applications. Auto makers led by the U.S. Big Three are seeking to increase the magnesium alloy content of vehicles from 10-15 lbs/vehicle to 350 lbs/vehicle by 2020, replacing 650 lbs/vehicle of steel and aluminum parts. This will increase fleet fuel economy by 1.5-2 miles per gallon, reducing annual petroleum import expenditures by about $20 billion. In addition to magnesium's impact on vehicle efficiency, the straightforward and efficient SOM process will likely use much less energy than is used to produce aluminum, and its magnesium product may rival the raw material cost of the steel and aluminum which it replaces. This could lead to a new magnesium economy taking full advantage of its light weight and ease of manufacturing in products from bicycles to refrigerators to trucks. Furthermore, the SOM process can likely reduce the cost and environmental impact of producing other metals such as titanium, copper, and tantalum leading to a new primary metals industrial ecology.This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).