Tenova’s spray roaster technology was chosen for a demonstration Magnesium Oxide production plant in Australia at the forefront of environmental sustainability.
Tenova was awarded a contract by Latrobe Magnesium Limited (LMG), a company based in Australia. The scope of work is the engineering, supply, and supervision of the Magnesium Oxide (MgO) production plant at Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia, a demonstration plant using a world-first process of combined hydromet / thermal reduction.
As part of the first phase of the project, Tenova’s scope of supply will include a magnesium oxide (MgO) plant, with spray roaster technology – a commonly utilised technology in the steel industry that was adapted for use in LMG flowsheet for extracting and producing magnesium metal – with a production capacity of 300 kg/h.
The demonstration plant will initially have capacity of 1,000 tonnes of magnesium (Mg) metal per year, and in the second stage, LMG intends to develop a commercial scale operation with an envisaged production capacity in the range of 10,000 to 40,000 tons per annum of magnesium metal.
Thanks to its world-first patented hydrometallurgical extraction and thermal reduction process, the plant will harvest magnesium metal from a fly ash resource – a waste stream from brown coal power generation. The project is at the forefront of environmental sustainability as it converts nearly 100% of the resource into valuable commodities. The released CO2 emissions are approximately 50% less than comparable magnesium production plants.
The first magnesium is forecasted to be produced in 2023.
Related technologies
Want to know more?
Get in touch with our experts on the subject