Magnesium

Through years of experience, the engineers at Sedgman Novopro have acquired the knowledge and expertise necessary to effectively carry out magnesium metal related projects in all of their phases.

Experience has provided Sedgman Novopro with detailed design capabilities for specialized equipment, such as chlorination units, fluid bed dryers, casting furnaces, molten metal pumps, and high current bus bars. This kind of expertise is usually not available within engineering firms and frequently has to be acquired through specialized consultants or vendors.

Sedgman Novopro’s team has identified the majority of relevant equipment suppliers in the magnesium sector and is well aware of their performances. This is essential in all stages of a project with regard to the qualification of contractors and vendors.

Furthermore, given its involvement in development activities that have led to licensing of technology, Sedgman Novopro understands and appreciates not only the technical requirements, but also the business aspects of technology development and transfer. Such activities are key in almost all phases of any magnesium project.

Sedgman Novopro’s technical capabilities include:

  • Raw materials test work;
  • Raw materials purification and impurities bleed mechanisms;
  • Technology transfer package preparation and negotiations;
  • Development of cost models for capital and operating expenditures;
  • Bench marking of cost models as compared to other existing projects;
  • Process design including mass and energy balance model;
  • Design of specialized process equipment;
  • Specialized know-how with regards to refractory selection;
  • High amperage bus-bar design;
  • Magnesium transformation and recycling know-how;
  • Cell house and foundry overall design and layout;
  • Safety requirements in cell-house and foundry as well as HAZOP;
  • Dross treatment plant design;
  • Chlorine treatment and transformation into value added products.

Magnesium Primary Metal Production

Magnesium metal primary production requires a highly complex extraction process, demanding intimate knowledge of the various forms of magnesium compounds, as well as the behaviour of the metal and its alloying elements. Sedgman Novopro can claim to be one of the leading technological and engineering-based companies in this challenging field, encapsulating all aspects of the process, from raw materials preparation to dehydration, electrolysis/reduction and refining-casting.

Magnesium Chloride Purification for Metal Processes

Sedgman Novopro has been actively involved in the development of several magnesium metal operations. Each of these process developments required the preparation and purification of MgCl2 solutions for feeding into the crystallization, dehydration, and electrolysis sections of the plant. Systems including leaching of Mg (OH)2 and MgCO3 in HCl; iron, nickel and manganese removal; boron removal; sulphate removal as well as MgCl2.6H2O and carnallite crystallization have been developed and designed.