"Magnesium economy" broad prospects, industry chain comprehensive analysis

Magnesium oxide is an important inorganic chemical products, chemical formula for MgO, magnesiumOxide, is a kindionic compoundIt is a white solid at room temperature. Magnesium oxidePericlaseThe form exists in nature and is a raw material for magnesium smelting. Widely used in chemical, light industry, food, medicine, paint, rubber, electronics, metallurgy, building materials and other industries, a wide range of applications, a wide variety of processing methods can be divided into two categories: calcined magnesium oxide and synthetic magnesium oxide.

Physical characteristics

Appearance: Magnesium oxide is usually white or off-white powder, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic.

Melting point and boiling point: melting point is 2852 ℃, boiling point is 3600 ℃.

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Solubility: very slightly soluble in water, insoluble in alcohol, but soluble in acid and ammonium salt solution. Solubility in water increases with increasing temperature and is also affected by the presence of carbon dioxide.

Optical properties: Strong refraction in the visible and near ultraviolet range.

CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Alkaline oxide: Magnesium oxide has the generality of alkaline oxide and can react with acid to generate salt and water.

Reaction with water: slow reaction with water to form magnesium hydroxide, but under certain conditions can accelerate the reaction 1.

React with carbon dioxide: Exposed to the air, it is easy to absorb moisture and carbon dioxide and gradually become basic magnesium carbonateYes.

processing method

Magnesium oxide can be divided into two categories according to processing methods: calcined magnesium oxide and synthetic magnesium oxide.

calcined magnesiaGenerally, magnesite is calcined under certain equipment and temperature. China is rich in magnesite resources, which makes calcined magnesia a major primary processing product exported by China, which also causes resource loss and pollution problems. Therefore, the state has increased its control over this.

synthetic magnesium oxideMineral or liquid raw materials through a series of chemical conversion and processing process of production, the raw materials are divided into solid minerals and liquid raw materials two categories: solid minerals are mainly brucite, dolomite, serpentine, liquid raw materials to seawater, underground brine, salt lake brine.

Production process

The production process of magnesium oxide mainly depends on the cost, raw materials and other factors.

Carbonization method: dolomite after calcination, digestion, carbonization to obtain basic magnesium carbonate, and then through thermal decomposition, calcination, crushing, windy to produce light magnesium oxide.

Gas phase method: the reaction of high-purity metal magnesium and oxygen to form crystal nuclei, and then the particles grow to obtain high-purity micropowder magnesium oxide.

Oxygen-alkali method: light magnesium carbonate reacts with calcium hydroxide to obtain magnesium hydroxide precipitate, and then calcined to obtain magnesium oxide.

Magnesium bromide method: magnesium metal reacts with bromine to form magnesium bromide, then reacts with water to form magnesium hydroxide, and finally magnesia is obtained by calcination.

Soda ash method: first dilute bittern with waterAbout 20 ° Be is added into the reactor, and under stirring, about 20 ° Be soda ash clear solution is slowly added, and the reaction is carried out at about 55 ℃ to generate heavy magnesium carbonate, which is rinsed and centrifuged, roasted at 700~900 ℃, crushed and winded to obtain light magnesium oxide products.

Carbonic acid method: magnesium ore reacts with sodium hydroxide to generate magnesium carbonate, and then calcined to obtain magnesium oxide.

Chlorination method: magnesium ore reacts with chlorine to form magnesium chloride, then reacts with ammonia to form magnesium hydroxide, and finally calcines to obtain magnesium oxide.

Fluorination method: magnesium ore reacts with hydrofluoric acid to generate magnesium fluoride, and then calcined to obtain magnesium oxide.

Lime method: magnesium chloride solution reacts with calcined limestone (or dolomite) ash milk to generate magnesium hydroxide precipitate, and then calcined to obtain magnesium oxide.

Ammonium bicarbonate method: ammonium bicarbonate (or carbon dioxide and ammonia) reacts with magnesium chloride solution to generate basic magnesium carbonate, which is decomposed into magnesium oxide by calcination.

Ammonia method: reacting bischofite (or old halogen) with liquid ammonia (or ammonia water) to generate magnesium hydroxide precipitate, which is washed, dried and calcined to obtain magnesium oxide.

Soda ash method: the brine and soda ash reaction to generate basic magnesium carbonate precipitation, washing, dehydration and calcination to produce magnesium oxide.

Magnesium hydroxide calcination method: magnesium hydroxide is precipitated by adding pure ammonia water to magnesium sulfate solution purified by impurity removal as raw material, and then nano magnesium oxide is prepared by drying and calcination.

Brine-ammonium bicarbonate method: the reaction of brine and ammonium bicarbonate is used to generate basic magnesium carbonate, which is then aged, washed, dried and calcined to obtain silicon steel grade magnesium oxide.

Mother liquor method of making salt from seawater: the mother liquor after making salt from seawater is mixed with ammonium bicarbonate to carry out precipitation reaction, and then light magnesium oxide is made by centrifugal dehydration, drying and calcination.

commonly used production process of nano magnesium oxide:

Hydrolysis: Magnesium nitrate (Mg(NO3)2) is dissolved in deionized water, heated to 80-100 ℃, and alkali solution (such as ammonia water or ammonium bicarbonate) is added to adjust the pH value to generate magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2). Then, magnesium hydroxide is dispersed and a surfactant is added, dispersed into nano-sized particles by ultrasonic wave or mechanical stirring, and finally calcined to convert into nano-sized magnesium oxide.

Hydrothermal method: dissolve magnesium salt (such as magnesium nitrate) in deionized water, add alkaline substance to adjust pH, and then vacuum dry to obtain solid sample. The solid sample is placed in a high-pressure container, and the hydrothermal reaction is carried out under constant temperature and pressure to generate nano-magnesium oxide. After completion of the reaction, filtration, washing and drying treatments were performed.

Gas phase method: Magnesium metal is deposited on a substrate, such as a quartz glass plate, and then calcined at a suitable temperature to form magnesium vapor. Magnesium vapor reacts with oxygen or water vapor to generate magnesium oxide gas, which is deposited on the substrate to form a nano-sized magnesium oxide film. This method can control the size and morphology of nano-magnesium oxide by controlling the reaction conditions.

Sol-gel method: the metal salt and oxidant hydrolysis, condensation and gelation reaction, preparation of magnesium oxide gel. Nanometer magnesium oxide is obtained by calcination treatment.

Co-precipitation method: magnesium salt and precipitant (such as alkali metal salt) are added to the solution at the same time to react, and nano magnesium oxide is formed by precipitation.

Microemulsion method: preparation of nano magnesium oxide particles by nucleation and growth process in microemulsion system

The difference between nano magnesium oxide and ordinary magnesium oxide 

Nano-magnesia is a new type of functional fine inorganic materials, its surface effect is more obvious, that is, with the decrease of particle size, the surface area of magnesium oxide increases significantly, the surface energy increases, reflecting a high reactivity, strong adsorption force, good low temperature sintering and other characteristics.

Particle size and specific surface areaThe particle size of nano-magnesium oxide reaches the nanometer level (such as 50nm or 30nm), which makes it have a great specific surface area, which is different from regular-scale magnesium oxide in performance. Due to its small particle size, the surface energy increases, showing high reactivity, strong adsorption and good low temperature sintering 2.

I'm sorry.Nano-magnesium oxide has high hardness, high purity and high melting point, which make it perform well in many applications.

Development of Nanometer Magnesium Oxide Industry in ChinaYes.Yes.

The upstream of the magnesium oxide industry chain includes magnesite, dolomite, brine, halogen block and other raw materials; magnesium oxide is widely used in various fields of industry and life due to its low cost, high stability, and easy synthesis. From the perspective of specific fields, the downstream is mainly used in refractory materials, metallurgy, food additives, medicine, rubber and other industries.

nanometer magnesium oxideMainly used in refractory insulation materials, ferrite core coating, plastics, sugar industry, rare metal iron ore production and processing, refined oil production and processing, electrical technology, natural environment, feed and food additives, pharmaceutical and other fields. According to the data, in the middle and downstream application fields of nano-magnesium oxide, refractory and thermal insulation materials occupy 70%, followed by steel monocrystalline silicon wafer coating occupies 12.8.

Source of Magnesium

Magnesium is a kind of metal element, from magnesium containing ore to magnesium metal or high temperature resistant magnesium oxide, this technology has been used in the world industrial production field for nearly 200 years. Magnesium resources are abundant and widely distributed. In addition to the abundant reserves of solid magnesium-containing minerals, magnesium-containing evaporative minerals (seawater, brine, salt lake) resources can be described as inexhaustible. The current reserves of magnesium resources can fully meet the human demand for magnesium, even in the future for a period of time are not a problem. Natural brine can be regarded as a recoverable resource, so that the magnesium mined by humans is regenerated in a relatively short period of time.

China and Russia have large-scale magnesium processing equipment. These two countries produce the world's 2/3 magnesium oxide. Japan, the Netherlands and the United States mainly extract magnesium from seawater and brine, and magnesium oxide production accounts for about 52% of the global total. Australia, Brazil, China, Iran, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States also produce fused magnesia.

Magnesium Oxide Applications

Magnesium oxide is widely used in steel, ceramics, cement, glass and other refractory industries that require high temperature refining. Magnesium oxide is the world as one of the insulation materials, its thermal conductivity in 0.07W/(m.k) below, its insulation function is rare in terms of insulation materials. Magnesium oxide also has the characteristics of high temperature stability, high temperature to 1700 ℃ molecular structure does not change, most of the world's steelmaking furnace using this kind of insulation material. The purity of magnesium oxide is different, and the products produced will be different.

Nano magnesium oxide has good temperature resistance and insulation, excellent moon light permeability, high heat transfer, relatively large linear expansion coefficient, generally as a continuous high temperature heat-resistant material, in the porcelain industry as porcelain blue pot, base materials and other raw materials; in the electronics, household appliances industry as a magnetic equipment filler, insulation material and various media. High purity magnesium oxide above 99% is a good chemical raw material for manufacturing oriented silicon steel sheet in today's society. In 2014, the market capacity of high-purity magnesium oxide in China was 1.084 billion RMB, and in 2021, the market capacity of high-purity magnesium oxide in China was 1.516 billion RMB. It is estimated that the market capacity of high-purity magnesium oxide in China is expected to exceed 1.8 billion RMB in 2024.

market demand　　

From a global perspective, the global magnesium oxide supply and demand market is basically balanced, and has shown a steady growth trend in recent years. In 2023, the global magnesium oxide market sales reached 45.7 billion yuan, and it is expected to reach 52.83 billion yuan by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 0.5. Europe is the largest market, accounting for about 43% of the market, followed by China and Japan. China is the world's largest producer of magnesium oxide. In the past few years, its magnesium oxide production has continued to increase steadily, and the average annual compound growth rate is expected to maintain at about 3.5Yes.

As a large country of magnesium resource reserves, China has more urgent technical needs in the fields of magnesium resource exploitation and magnesium product development. In recent years, with the rapid development of science and technology, the demand for magnesium oxide at home and abroad is increasing. Data show that in 2022, China's magnesium oxide industry demand is about 19.891 million tons, an increase of 5%. At present, China's magnesium oxide products are mainly exported, but magnesium oxide products for different purposes, such as high-purity fused magnesium oxide, magnesium oxide for electric heaters and nano-magnesium oxide, still need to be imported to meet the domestic market demand. Data show that in 2022, China's magnesium oxide imports were about 18000, a year-on-year decrease of 10%; the export volume was about 475000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.66.

With the rapid development of magnesium oxide production and export volume, many factors restricting the further development of China's calcined magnesium oxide industry have gradually emerged. First, due to years of almost predatory mining, the reserves of high-quality magnesium ore resources have declined rapidly, and the amount of high-quality ore mining has decreased year by year; second, due to slow technological progress, high-end magnesium oxide products are still controlled by foreign manufacturers, especially the use of low-grade Magnesite production technology has not yet made a breakthrough. With the continuous depletion of high quality magnesite, the quality of magnesia products continues to decline; third, china's magnesia production and export enterprises have been showing the phenomenon of "scattered, many and small", and the industry order and standards are not perfect.

In the context of increasing global environmental awareness, sustainable development has become an important direction for the development of the industry. As an environmentally friendly material, magnesium oxide has the characteristics of low pollution and renewability, and has broad application prospects in the fields of sustainable construction, waste treatment and environmental protection. The industry will move towards green production and circular economy to reduce resource consumption and environmental impact.

With the technological progress and the continuous improvement of market demand, the demand for high-purity and high-quality magnesium oxide products will increase. This includes magnesium oxide products with higher purity, more uniform particles and more complete crystals. Nano-MgO has a wide range of applications in electronics, optics and medical fields, so the development of high-purity products is an important direction of the market. R & D and innovation of the production process of magnesium oxide products is an important measure to break the homogenization phenomenon in the industry, and it is also the only way for the transformation and upgrading of related enterprises. At present, the domestic magnesium oxide products, whether in terms of production process, product type or production capacity scale, have been greatly improved compared with the past, which represents a big step forward in the development of the domestic magnesium oxide industry.