What are the production methods of magnesium?
Many countries produce magnesium, such as the United States, Russia, Norway, Canada, China and so on. In the process of production, each country adopts the method of magnesium smelting which is suitable for its own mineral resources and energy sources. At present, most countries use dolomite to produce magnesium. The methods of producing magnesium are molten salt electrolysis and thermal reduction. The direct raw material of the former is magnesium chloride and that of the latter is magnesium oxide.
There are many methods to produce magnesium metal by electrolysis, all of which take magnesium chloride as the direct raw material. In the case of dolomite, which produces magnesium lightly, the electrolysis process begins with the production of magnesium oxide. Anhydrous magnesium chloride is obtained by rechlorination, and finally magnesium metal is obtained by electrolysis. For example, Dow uses seawater to make the sintered dolomite into mud, which precipitates Mg(OH)2; Then react with hydrochloric acid to form MgCl2, and then add other substances to heat electrolysis to produce magnesium metal.
