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Recycling of Magnesium Alloy Employing Refining and Solid Oxide Membrane (SOM) Electrolysis

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Abstract

Pure magnesium was recycled from partially oxidized 50.5 wt pct Mg-Al scrap alloy and AZ91 Mg alloy (9 wt pct Al, 1 wt pct Zn). Refining experiments were performed using a eutectic mixture of MgF2-CaF2 molten salt (flux). During the experiments, potentiodynamic scans were performed to determine the electrorefining potentials for magnesium dissolution and magnesium bubble nucleation in the flux. The measured electrorefining potential for magnesium bubble nucleation increased over time as the magnesium content inside the magnesium alloy decreased. Potentiostatic holds and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were employed to measure the electronic and ionic resistances of the flux. The electronic resistivity of the flux varied inversely with the magnesium solubility. Up to 100 pct of the magnesium was refined from the Mg-Al scrap alloy by dissolving magnesium and its oxide into the flux followed by argon-assisted evaporation of dissolved magnesium and subsequently condensing the magnesium vapor. Solid oxide membrane electrolysis was also employed in the system to enable additional magnesium recovery from magnesium oxide in the partially oxidized Mg-Al scrap. In an experiment employing AZ91 Mg alloy, only the refining step was carried out. The calculated refining yield of magnesium from the AZ91 alloy was near 100 pct.

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award No. DE-EE0003454. The authors would like to thank Dr. Eric Gratz and Dr. Soobhankar Pati for helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Xiaofei Guan (Graduate Student) & Uday B. Pal (Professor)

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Peter A. Zink (Research Assistant Professor and Lecturer) & Uday B. Pal (Professor)

  3. Metal Oxygen Separation Technologies, Inc., Natick, MA, 01760, USA

    Adam C. Powell (Chief Technology Officer)

Authors
  1. Xiaofei Guan
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  2. Peter A. Zink
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  3. Uday B. Pal
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Correspondence to Uday B. Pal.

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Manuscript submitted May 18, 2012.

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Guan, X., Zink, P.A., Pal, U.B. et al. Recycling of Magnesium Alloy Employing Refining and Solid Oxide Membrane (SOM) Electrolysis. Metall Mater Trans B 44, 261–271 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-013-9797-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-013-9797-9

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