ecomagabundant

The current catch-cry is that it should no longer be free to emit CO₂ gas. Payments for these emissions, could take the form of a tax levy imposed on business unable to show a reduction in CO₂ emissions. It could also mean some businesses will no longer be able operate as consumers become more critical of the effect they have on the environment. There is a substitute for everything and price is no longer the only measure of value.

EcoMag is in the enviable position of relying solely on waste streams for our processes. Our source is a solar salt waste stream that has been produced by solar thermal evaporation. There is minimal CO₂ produced by our process when we make high purity Mg products from this Mg waste stream. This compares favourably to other magnesium companies that either source their Mg from mined ores or by boiling seawater generating CO₂ in the process. Our company is a prime example of waste to resource with the added benefit of having the lowest CO₂ footprint. Our future production plans are to further reduce our CO₂ footprint, by producing a product that locks away CO2,  in other words a viable carbon sequestration method. Companies internationally are becoming interested in EcoMag as we offer them the right to tag themselves as our “environmental” partner and promote their purchasing of our material to their customers. It’s a chain reaction that will become more and more apparent as social media and life ambassadors give shout-outs to those who are actively and deliberately moving towards decarbonisation. Our distribution partner in Europe is IMagine, one of Germany’s main distributors of magnesium. IMagine understands that COP26 will bring low carbon materials to the forefront, so that businesses such as EcoMag become the new mainstream suppliers. Andreas Pabst of IMagine says “there is both a push from government and massive demand from end user customers for environmentally sound materials. EcoMag not only offers the lowest carbon footprint for super high grade MgO, but it can also supply consistently high quality at a fair and acceptable price. We work with EcoMag as the future is in top quality and sustainable materials”. Having the trust of a partner like IMagine to provide materials to their customers shows international understanding of the volatile magnesium supply market.

EcoMag scales up production following successful UNSW trials

See more

https://www.futurefoodsystems.com.au/resource/collaboration-in-process-improvement-spray-drying-of-ecomag-magnesium-based-products-at-unsw-dr-tam-tran-ecomag/

Please click this link below to read the full story

https://www.techconnect.unsw.edu.au/ecomag-high-purity-magnesium-and-cleaner-environment

The local news in Karratha has reported on our recent export of unrefined magnesium direct to the USA. It is an export shipment of raw material that will be used for pain relief and psoriasis products sold in USA as well as being a test of logistics. Can we economically export from Karratha Western Australian to the worlds largest ports? The markets for Ecomag’s highly pure and low carbon footprint magnesium are based in Europe, Asia and USA. Shipping directly from Karratha eliminates the need for the long truck drive from Karratha to Perth’s ports 2,000 kms away. Shipping directly from Karratha saves us both money and CO2. We know that this shipment means a lot for us at EcoMag but as well as saving CO2, it also could have the domino effect of making Karratha a port of activity.

Click the audio file below to listen to the interview

https://ecomagnesium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Pilbara-ABC-Radio-interview-EcoM.mp3

In a CO₂ waste enriched environment it is important to come up with a material of value that can be formed using waste CO₂. If we treat CO₂ as any valuable waste stream we should start to develop processes that combine the CO₂into structures that hold onto it, maintain their integrity and most importantly add real value to our businesses. The message from scientists measuring the changes in CO₂ emissions and the effect of these changes, is that we need to act now as a matter of urgency. However acting in haste creates its own regrettable inefficiencies. Governments and investors rush in and focus their energies on ideas that have investment support but when you dig deeper, you realise that only half the real story is being disclosed. We know that CO₂ emissions can be reduced by either not generating it in the first place, or by collecting the waste CO₂ and storing it for long time. It is about finding the right path that doesn’t create further collateral damage.

Why is it so difficult to find a working solution to this problem?

There are two issues with CO₂ production, the first relates to its concentrated collection and the second is using this concentrated CO₂ in processes that substitute for other inputs for further utilization or entrap CO₂ for sequestration. On the concentration collection the drive is to have clean waste CO₂ in a pure form. The problem with aiming for high purity is that most CO₂ generated comes from burning fossil fuels which are not clean. You cannot use this CO₂ for gassing beverages for example as the issue of purity creates other problems. The concentrated CO₂ is generated but now needs to be collected and stored. You can put the CO₂ under pressure and store in cylinders that can be transported to be used in other processes. To do this we must be mindful not to be adding in more energy to do this task and therefore generating CO₂. This in itself defeats the purpose of reducing the CO₂ because it generates even more CO₂. This is where it becomes easy pickings for people who are not committed to CO₂ reduction, they see it as a problem that inhibits a new money-making venture.  

Is there a solution? We don’t want to overcook the solution. What is needed is a process that does not need pure collected CO2 waste, as cleaning it for example for use in carbonated beverages costs a lot in time, money and energy (TME). Entrapping CO2 in underground/ocean ex-oil cavities is also high in TME and it also runs the risk of CO2 leakage acidifying the oceans which is potentially disastrous. Other great ideas include mineralisation for limited re-use, that is making a product that might end up storing it as waste, which is a total loss of TME

EcoMag has the answers!

EcoMag has a material that is made from waste CO₂ that has real value as it stores CO₂ in functional building products. So as long as we continue to build structures to live in we can also make and use material that stores CO₂. This material is Hydrated Magnesium Carbonate (HMC). This HMC is a unique material and can be made in large quantities at EcoMag’s site in Karratha. The EcoMag site is situated over a waste magnesium stream that is currently discharged directly to sea. This is reacted with a saturated CO₂ waste stream that has been collected from nearby companies that are generating waste CO₂. The CO₂ is not pure, but it does not need to be for the EcoMag process which can be easily collected and concentrated. The abundant source of the waste CO₂ in Karratha is 22km from EcoMag. Shorter transport routes mean a lower amount of energy is used. Once at the EcoMag site it is mixed with the magnesium waste stream and from there we combine two waste streams to create a building material.

What is HMC to the Building Industry? It is a breath of fresh air. HMC is 1/3 the weight of materials commonly used in plasterboard, strong as cement, water, rain and heat resistant and more importantly acts as a fire retardant when faced with extremely high temperatures. HMC can be used inside and outside buildings and provides great thermal insulation. MgO boards have been known to absorb moisture causing corrosion of the metal framework.

There have been issues with stable supply from China and hence was difficult to guarantee for a long-term future. The building industry wants reliable supply of raw materials as they are bound by many codes and regulations, which means introducing a new product is expensive and surety is very important. EcoMag is all Australian and can expands its current planned production of 50,000 tpa HMC to several times more before it runs out of the yearly magnesium supply.

. Near our Karratha facility we have a number of CO2 producers whose CO2 waste we could readily capture and transport to our site for Synthetic Magnesium production of Magnesium Carbonate (HMC), Magnesium that is the most pure and with the lowest carbon footprint. HMC is used for production of magnesium supplements which is a trending natural daily health requirement. The plastics industry also uses HMC to produce fire preventative coating for electrical wire to stop fires in aircraft. The glass produced for mobile phones uses HMC to make it strong and this glass can also be used to make high strength engineered glass building structures. The highest usage of entrapped CO2 is in building fabrication. Instead of plasterboard and other external cladding, it comes with the added benefit of being light and fire resistant. So putting CO2 back into structures requires a company like EcoMag that has true CO2 sequestration technology and derived product that is highly profitable. Please listen to the interview attached to understand more about what EcoMag is doing in the ESG environment and why we endeavour to be leaders in this industry

Click here to hear the interview with ABC radio and CEO Tony Crimmins listen

It was used as a political carrot, but it is now a call for the younger generation to change our perspective. Did you know that some older engineers and their companies still don’t believe in climate change? When I left university as a young chemical engineer some 30 years ago I believed that we could change the world, but the more engineering companies I worked for, the more I felt they dulled my thinking and forced me to be just another cog in the machine. I now feel that my idealistic belief that we can change things doesn’t seem to resonate as much with the older generation of engineers as it does with the younger ones, so now we need to entrust the safety of the planet to young engineers.

At UNSW chemical engineers have been taught to consider the carbon footprint of engineering processes. “For the past 10 years energy and emission impacts have been incorporated into our core learnings’ says Professor Rose Amal, “Chemical engineers need to consider the impact of their work on our planet. Nowadays chemical engineering graduates don’t just accept previous practices but they innovate with the environment in mind”.

EcoMag makes the purest magnesium for the food and pharmaceutical markets, a highly sought-after material for the wellness industry. Magnesium has moved up from number 4 to number 3 on the supplement register. The general community and even medical doctors have been surprised at how a diet higher in magnesium is able to relieve inflammation. This has led to a big demand for organic magnesium and there are only a few suppliers that can provide such high purity products. It is important to note that our magnesium comes from a concentrated form of ocean water, free from all harmful impurities and heavy metals.

Uniquely, EcoMag recovers its magnesium from highly concentrated magnesium reject bitterns/brines dumped into the ocean by solar salt fields or stored in tailing ponds by potash producers. These are waste streams that are produced from seawater or subterranean brines that have been sun dried for an extended time. As a result, EcoMag magnesium products have a far lower carbon footprint than any other commercial product currently on the market. Removing the magnesium further reduces the impact of the original waste during discharge rendering it more acceptable for ocean outfall.

In addition, EcoMag has also started developing processes for CO₂ sequestration using the magnesium waste streams, taking this waste gas from a nearby industry and using it to make the pharmaceutical magnesium. In this respect, two waste streams are combined to make highly profitable products in a process that has true green credentials. At EcoMag we have the opportunity to make our magnesium pharmaceutical grade products, earning real money whilst treating the environment with care and respect.

Every young engineer who works at EcoMag are all inspired with this strategy, producing novel and disruptive products with great creativity and care for the environment. We are further developing building boards that are fire resistant and products having highly porous structure that can be used as drug carrier for slow-release applications. We are actively seeking potential partners to work in these areas toward commercialization.

We are thankful to the Western Australian and the NSW state governments for their grant support to conduct our work.

Media contacts:

• EcoMag Ltd Communications

M: 0476 201 056, E: admin@ecomagnesium.com

An innovative Australian project to produce high-value magnesium products from existing waste-water streams from salt production in the Pilbara.  Processing plant construction activities start.

Having completed its land/resource access agreements, the secret that’s about to become public knowledge is that EcoMag Ltd, the maker of the purest specialty magnesium materials used as food and pharma-nutraceutical ingredients, has started the build on its demonstration project near Karratha WA. The company is the first of its kind to process a true waste, a reject bittern from solar salt operations, into high value products. It has been supported by the Western Australian Government as an innovative process, in which a resource is recovered without impacting negatively on the environment. Over the past few years EcoMag Ltd has received support from the State Government’s Regional Economic Development (RED) Grants Program.

Despite the expanding transition to renewable energy sources, the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide (CO₂) is projected to continue to rise for decades to come.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) acknowledge that large-scale technologies capable of removing CO₂ from the air are critical to achieving a climate outcome aligned with the Paris Agreement.  So-called negative emission technologies (NETs) are vital for reaching net zero emissions by 2050, even in scenarios where the rapid deployment of renewable energy is realised. 

Tree cycle capturing Carbon Dioxide

Ecomag MOF technology replicating trees

Once captured, the question remains of what to do with all the carbon?  One approach is to sequester CO₂ underground in geologically stable reservoirs.  A complementary strategy is to take a cue from nature and transform the captured CO₂ into something society can reuse.  The idea of closing the carbon loop mimics the way plants undergo photosynthesis.  When combined with renewable hydrogen, CO₂ can be converted into an array of important chemical feedstocks currently derived from fossil fuels. 

The challenge is that carbon dioxide is a very stable molecule.  Therefore, a catalyst is required to effectively reduce the amount of energy required to transform the CO₂ into something more useful. 

EcoMag is working with UNSW’s Particle and Catalysis Research Group led by Prof Rose Amal and the CSIRO to develop Magnesium-based materials that can bridge the gap between carbon capture and utilisation.  The class of porous materials being targeted are known as metal-organic frameworks.  MOFs are materials made up of metal ion ‘hubs’, linked together with organic ‘struts’ to make structures of ultrahigh porosity.  About a teaspoon of these remarkable crystals possess the same surface area as an entire football field.  With all this room inside, MOFs can be put to work as tiny sponges. 

Excitingly, Magnesium-based MOFs are particularly good at capturing carbon dioxide.  By doping these structures with active nanoparticles, we have shown that we can convert the captured CO₂ into renewable fuels.  The idea is that these two components can work in unison.  The magnesium-based MOF can soak up the CO₂ while the doped nanoparticles are able to facilitate the transformation. 

The collaborative effort is currently screening a variety of Magnesium-based MOFs to uncover the most commercially viable option.  EcoMag’s array of high purity magnesium products are a perfect platform for formulating these revolutionary structures.  By tuning the organic component used in material construction, it is possible to tune the pore size and chemistry of the resulting MOF, opening the door to a broad range of applications including air filtration, chemical sensing and drug delivery.  Feel free to share a link to our latest publication in Advanced Functional Materials:

https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202007624

HMC can then be further processed to Mg oxide/hydroxide and several high purity pharmaceutical and food grade organic salts (citrate, glycinate, etc.) used in Mg supplements, foods and drinks.

As the Mg feed to the EcoMag process is a waste, it brings zero CO₂ input to the final products. As a result, EcoMag products have lower CO₂ footprint compared to those produced from conventional technologies as confirmed in an independent study conducted by the German Aerospace Centre.

Mg recovery from mining magnesite ores or subterranean brine wells poses potential damages to the environment. Ground disturbance of open cut magnesite mine site requires extensive rehabilitation to return the site to its original state. Recovering Mg brines from subterranean wells potentially causes mine subsidence as experienced by Nedmag and similar operations in the Netherlands. Earthquakes and brine leaks to groundwater apart form mine subsidence have been of great concern as experienced by Nedmag  leading to strict government scrutiny of these operations (https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/09/earthquakes-leaks-salt-mining-under-scrutiny-as-problems-mount/).