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Scale-Up Study of Molten Salt Electrolysis using Cu or Ag Cathode and Vacuum Distillation for the Production of High-Purity Mg Metal from MgO

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Abstract

To produce high-purity Mg metal directly from MgO, the scale-up of a novel electrolytic process using a metal cathode and vacuum distillation was investigated. The electrolysis of MgO was conducted in MgF2–LiF molten salt using Cu or Ag cathode and graphite anode at 1053 K. The influence of the cathode metal and the concentration of Mg in the Mg alloy on the current efficiency was investigated. In addition, the interaction of Al2O3 in contact with the electrolyte and cathode was studied. When electrolysis was carried out with an applied current of 8.81–9.59 A for 75–95 h, Mg alloys such as Mg2Cu and MgAg were produced with a current efficiency of 82.2–88.0%. In addition, owing to the reaction between the Mg alloy and Al2O3, a dense layer of magnesium aluminum oxide was produced. Afterward, when the vacuum distillation of the Mg alloys was conducted at 1300 K, 99.9997% Mg metal was obtained.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. DongEung Kim of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology for the discussions throughout this study. In addition, the authors thank Dr. Jae-Yeol Yang, Dr. Jae-Sik Yoon, and Ms. Jiyoung Baek for their technical support. Furthermore, the authors are grateful to all the members of the Geoanalysis Department of KIGAM for their technical assistance. This research was supported by the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) grant by the Korea government (MSIT) (No.CRC-15-06-KIGAM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, 124 Gwahak-ro Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34132, Korea

    Dong-Hee Lee, Hyeong-Jun Jeoung, Tae-Hyuk Lee, Jin-Young Lee & Jungshin Kang

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 08826, Korea

    Hyeong-Jun Jeoung & Kyung-Woo Yi

  3. Department of Resources Recycling, University of Science and Technology, 217 Gajeong-ro Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34113, Korea

    Jin-Young Lee & Jungshin Kang

  4. Korea Institute of Materials Science, 797 Changwondae-ro, Seongsan-gu, Changwon, 51508, Gyeongnam, Korea

    Young Min Kim

  5. Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan

    Toru H. Okabe

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  1. Dong-Hee Lee
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  7. Toru H. Okabe
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Correspondence to Jungshin Kang.

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Lee, DH., Jeoung, HJ., Lee, TH. et al. Scale-Up Study of Molten Salt Electrolysis using Cu or Ag Cathode and Vacuum Distillation for the Production of High-Purity Mg Metal from MgO. J. Sustain. Metall. 7, 883–897 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-021-00367-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-021-00367-x

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