Magnesium metal manufactured using Magrathea’s technology. (Photo: Magrathea/Business Wire)
Magrathea’s technology enables U.S. companies to secure a reliable supply of critical minerals amid shifting trade policies and export controls, the company said.
SAN FRANCISCO—A next-generation magnesium chloride electrolyzer introduced by Magrathea uses electricity to split magnesium salts in the process of making magnesium metal, the company stated in a release.
Magrathea, a technology company that produces magnesium metal from seawater, launched the machine at its pilot facility in Oakland, California. Magnesium is essential for a wide range of applications, such as stiffening aluminum in alloys, steel making, and inputs for automotive, aerospace, and next-generation defense applications.
The launch of the machine is seen as a crucial step in advancing the technical and data framework for a future scaled plant. It is said to strategically position Magrathea’s technology to provide American companies with access to U.S.-based critical mineral supply chains amid shifting trade policies and export controls.
“Magnesium is one of the most important critical materials, but NATO countries face a dire shortage of non-China supply,” said Magrathea CEO Alex Grant, in the release. “Western nations must view this supply crisis as a national security emergency.”
Over the coming months, Magrathea will use data gathered from the pilot-scale electrolyzer to create a scalable technical model aimed at achieving the highest efficiencies from environmental and economic perspectives. The company will focus on obtaining process data, minimizing total electricity use, and recycling energy in strategic ways. It will also focus on optimizing the dehydration process, said to offer the biggest opportunity for cost reduction in the electrolytic production process for magnesium metal.
Magrathea’s next-generation magnesium chloride electrolyzer. (Photo: Magrathea/Business Wire)
According to Magrathea, these technical efforts are expected to significantly reduce the carbon footprint and operating expenditure of future commercial plants. The data and key processing learnings are also expected to help streamline permitting processes for future facilities, given the inherent environmental benefits of the technology.
“At our core, Magrathea’s innovative technology revitalizes a proven process with our own twist for considerable efficiency improvement and expense reduction,” Grant said. “We expect to reduce the technology’s operating expenses to make it cost-competitive with alternative production methods that exist today, including in China.”
Grant added that Magrathea is “in conversations with several major defense, chemical, and mining industrial players” to form a strategic partnership aimed at scaling up the technology “as the first new commercial-scale magnesium electrolyzer in the United States in the past 50 years.”