In the mid-20th century, chemical business effectively produced magnesium feedstock from seawater by mixing it with sodium hydroxide, commonly understood as lye. The resulting magnesium hydroxide salt, which gives the antacid milk of magnesia its name, was then processed to make magnesium metal.
” Normally, individuals move separations research study forward by developing more complex materials,” stated PNNL chemist and UW Affiliate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Chinmayee Subban. “This work is so amazing since were taking a completely different method. We found a simple procedure that works. When scaled, this procedure might help drive the renaissance of U.S. magnesium production by generating main feedstock. Were surrounded by a substantial, blue, untapped resource.”
Seawater from the PNNL-Sequim campus fueled this research job. Credit: Andrea Starr|Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
From Sequim water to solid salt
Subban and the team checked their brand-new approach using seawater from the PNNL-Sequim school, allowing the researchers to make the most of PNNL centers across Washington State.
” As a Coastal Sciences personnel member, I simply called a member of our Sequim chemistry team and asked for a seawater sample,” stated Subban. This work represents the cooperation that can occur across PNNLs Richland, Seattle, and Sequim campuses.
In the laminar coflow approach, the researchers flow seawater together with a service with hydroxide. The magnesium-containing seawater quickly reacts to form a layer of solid magnesium hydroxide. This thin layer functions as a barrier to option mixing.
” The circulation procedure produces dramatically different outcomes than simple option blending,” stated PNNL postdoctoral researcher Qingpu Wang. “The preliminary strong magnesium hydroxide barrier avoids calcium from interacting with the hydroxide. We can selectively produce pure solid magnesium hydroxide without needing additional purification actions.”
The selectivity of this procedure makes it especially powerful. Generating pure magnesium hydroxide, without any calcium contamination, enables researchers to avoid pricey and energy-intensive purification steps.
Sustainability for the future
The new and mild process has the potential to be extremely sustainable. The salt hydroxide utilized to draw out the magnesium salt can be generated on-site utilizing seawater and marine renewable energy. Eliminating magnesium is a needed pre-treatment for seawater desalination. Coupling the new process with existing technologies could make it much easier and cheaper to turn seawater into freshwater.
The group is especially excited about the future of the process. Their work is the very first demonstration of the laminar coflow approach for selective separations. This brand-new technique has lots of additional prospective applications, however more work needs to be done to comprehend the underlying chemistry of the process. The knowledge space uses brand-new possibilities and research instructions for powering the blue economy.
” We want to take this work from the empirical to the predictive,” said PNNL materials scientist Elias Nakouzi. “There is an interesting chance to establish a fundamental understanding of how this process runs while using it to important issues like producing brand-new energy products and attaining selective separation of hard-to-separate ions for water treatment and resource healing.”
Recommendation: “Flow-Assisted Selective Mineral Extraction from Seawater” by Qingpu Wang, Elias Nakouzi, Elisabeth A. Ryan and Chinmayee V. Subban, 31 May 2022, Environmental Science & & Technology Letters.DOI: 10.1021/ acs.estlett.2 c00229.
The published study was supported by the PNNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development program. Elisabeth Ryan of UW was also a co-author of the research study. The current advancement of this technology is supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Water Power Technologies Office under the Marine Energy Seedlings Program.
Researchers can isolate magnesium feedstocks from the ocean, essential for eco-friendly energy applications. Credit: Cortland Johnson|Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Magnesium salt is extracted from Sequim seawater utilizing a novel flow-based technique.
Individuals have been using salts from the ocean, like salt, because prehistoric times. While salt is the most quickly obtained, seawater is an abundant supply of other minerals, and scientists are investigating which ones may be drawn out from the sea. Magnesium is one of these minerals that is plentiful in the sea and is becoming increasingly more helpful on land.
Currently, salt lake brines, some of which are threatened by dry spells, are used in an energy-intensive process in the United States to produce magnesium. The Department of Energy included magnesium on its recently launched list of crucial materials for domestic production.
The laboratory-scale circulation device for extracting magnesium salt. Credit: Qingpu Wang|Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of Washington (UW) have found a simple approach to separate a pure magnesium salt, a feedstock for magnesium metal, from seawater. The method, understood as the laminar coflow technique, makes use of the limit that is continually reacting as an outcome of the flowing solutions.
Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of Washington (UW) have actually found an easy approach to separate a pure magnesium salt, a feedstock for magnesium metal, from seawater. In the mid-20th century, chemical business effectively produced magnesium feedstock from seawater by mixing it with sodium hydroxide, commonly understood as lye. The resulting magnesium hydroxide salt, which offers the antacid milk of magnesia its name, was then processed to make magnesium metal. The magnesium-containing seawater quickly responds to form a layer of strong magnesium hydroxide. The sodium hydroxide used to draw out the magnesium salt can be created on-site utilizing seawater and marine sustainable energy.