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Last year , the U.S. designated Mg as acritical mineral , one of the “ electric 18 ” that are critical for the energy transition . The metal is used in a range of mountains of electronics , and it weighs less than aluminum , making it an attractive option for automakers .
But like with so many other mineral , China has grown to dominate the grocery . It ’s not because magnesium is scarce — in fact , it ’s the eighth most abundant mineral in the Earth ’s crust , and it ’s the third most abundant unthaw mineral in the mankind ’s oceans . But in the U.S. , at least , only one company produces virgin metallic element — everything else is either imported or reuse from combat .
“ The name of the game really is , can you contend with the 90 % output that ’s come out of China today ? ” suppose Howard Yuh , co - founding father and CEO ofTidal Metals .
Yuh is betting that his inauguration can . The company , antecedently known as GreenBlu , had been make for on desalination technology when it realized there was more value in the minerals that were left behind .
“ At that metre , the industry around atomic number 12 was already sort of in shuffling in the United States , ” he said . Sensing opportunity , in late 2023 the company pivot to magnesium production and rebranded .
The lightweight metallic element has the potential drop to significantly reduce carbon copy emissions from transportation if it can be produce with minimal pollution . Motorsports sports fan will notice that magnesium is common in race cars , particularly in the bicycle , where every pound lost amend acceleration and handling . In passenger vehicles , broader use of magnesium would improve fuel economy , reduce the atomic number 6 footprint of fossil fuel vehicles and extend the range of galvanic vehicle . Some bombardment companies have begin to explore using the metallic element to improve energy concentration .
Magnesium today is for the most part produced in two ways : by cook the mineral bitter spar and by evaporating salt water supply , usually in jumbo open - air pool , and processing what remains . The former is wide used in China and dominates production ; it ’s also incredibly polluting , especially when coal is the heat source .
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Tidal Metals follow the latter , the evaporative approach , but it eschews the pond . In its place , it uses what ’s known as a temperature - swing vapor ticker . essentially , the company use a material that readily absorbs moisture to disappear brine or brines leftover from desalinisation . The material is similar to the silica gel packets you find tucked in things made oversea , and it sits inside a boxwood that ’s exposed to brine . When the material becomes pure , Tidal Metals closes the boxwood and raises the temperature , releasing the water .
Meanwhile , another material - filled box seat opens to continue evaporate the saltwater . Once that box is saturate , Tidal Metals uses heat pump to move the heat from the first box , which is now drier , to the second , saturated box seat . Apart from the initial heat take to warm up the first box , Yuh said the summons is very efficient . “ We ’ve basically recycled about 97 % of the energy . ”
In the end , the inauguration will have evaporated a measured ton of brine to produce about 4 kilogram of the atomic number 12 salt .
Once the water is evaporated , some H2O molecules are still spring to the magnesium chloride . Those need to go , too . Yuh would n’t give away details , but he read the company has fine-tune an existing process to make it easygoing .
Tidal Metals is working on a pilot burner plant that can bring forth 200 tons per year . Funding for the undertaking comes from a recent $ 8.5 million seed bout lead by DCVC with involvement from Bidra Innovation Ventures and First Spark Ventures . Once the engineering science on that industrial plant is sorted , Yuh said the startup is aiming for a orotund - scale facility that can grow 10,000 tons per year , possibly as ahead of time as 2026 .
entirely , Tidal Metals ’ process promises to be significantly less polluting than what ’s done in China , particularly if renewable electrical energy is used to power the passion pumps . Plus , because the company can use saltwater and briny waste from desalination plants , the imagination is nearly unlimited , unlike magnesium that comes from mined bitter spar .
“ The one desalinisation plant in San Diego pumps in 100 million gallons of seawater a twenty-four hours . That ’s enough to supply all of the U.S. with Mg — 180,000 tons a twelvemonth , ” Yuh said . “ Today , it ’s all going to waste . ”