From importers to producers. If the project ofENEA will be successful, in a few years Italy will no longer need to source critical materials from abroad: magnesium for example. Transforming industries such as automotive, space, construction and packaging make heavy use of it. Europe has included magnesium among the 34 critical subjects necessary for the green growth of the economy. Not finding it free in nature, the Italian research body works on a large-scale desalination project. From processing waste desalination magnesium can be extracted for industry. China is now the largest producer with 90% of world supplies. Russia, Kazakhstan, Israel and Brazil are behind, with very small quantities but which place them among the countries that good business with the industrialists. However, there are 16 desalination plants in the world that produce 95 million m3 of desalinated water per day. The product is recovered from brines. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar are the best equipped to process desalination waste. And the water that is treated is for civil use. The governor of Veneto recently spoke about building plants of this type in Italy Luca Zaia, but mainly as a remedy against drought. At the central level, there has been talk of a national plan to equip the Regions with specific structures. From the commissioner to the drought emergency, Matteo Salvini, more than a week after the appointment, still no initiative. Yet the desalination plants would be new infrastructures that he would also have to deal with as Minister.
Magnesium recovered from desalination
“Current desalination technologies produce large quantities of brines that have three times the salinity of seawater. Their disposal involves a series of environmental problems for the aquatic ecosystem, when they are poured into the sea” he adds fountain. Therefore, it is useful to recover everything. Sodium, calcium and potassium are also found in brines. Other elements useful for industrial transformations to impact less on the environment. The recovery and reuse strategy is central to circular economy processes, including local ones. The pharmaceutical industry uses magnesium as an excipient, the food and cosmetic industries for the treatment of waste water. Proceeding with the application, Italy would also lend a hand to Europe where the level of recovery of magnesium is just 15%.
Research: from laboratories to industry
The discussion at this point crosses i projects of the EU to develop the battery industry for electric cars. Forced to import lithium, automakers could use magnesium as an alternative to the lithium they're making a fortune out of Chile, Argentina, China, Australia, Brazil. Today the recovery activities remain indoors in the laboratories with few studies dedicated to the technical-economic feasibility and environmental sustainability of the proposed processes. “With our research work we have examined the technologies for recovering magnesium from brines present in the literature, identifying their critical issues and potential” adds Fontana. Aeneas' work review technique provides ideas for transferring the technologies developed so far, from the laboratory to the markets. But the time to do it doesn't have to be infinite.
