5 Must-Have Features in a magnesia industrial uses

A basic description of magnesium does not come close to reflecting its true worth. It is the eighth most common element in the universe, an alkaline earth metal found in abundance in the Earth&#;s crust and seas, and the lightest metal on earth, one that emits a bright light when burned.

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That&#;s magnesium in a nutshell. But a closer look will reveal much more:

• a metal that can be blended with other metals to create lightweight alloys to make heavy objects (e.g., automobile frames) lighter and energy-efficient or bond with considerably heavier, more precious metals to protect them from corrosion
• an element that enhances crop yields, serves as an essential nutrient in humans; directs chlorophyll to carry out photosynthesis; and supports the normal activity of hundreds of enzymes in plants, animals, and humans

Thus, magnesium supports life as we know it and industry as we would like it to be.

The History of Magnesium

Magnesium is &#;born&#; among the stars through the fusion of helium and neon under extreme temperatures. These stars explode periodically, releasing magnesium into the atmosphere to become embedded in the Earth&#;s crust. Despite its abundance, little was known about this element until the 17th century.

A herd of thirsty cows led us on the road to its discovery

The cows belonged to an Englishman named Henry Wicker. One summer day in in Epsom Common&#;a pastoral setting in southeastern England&#;Wicker noticed that his cows refused to drink from a particular pool of water. Given that England was in the grips of a severe drought that day, he found this behavior disturbing. 

Taking a sip of the water, he discovered the reason for their behavior: The water was bitter. Wicker attempted to isolate the substance responsible for the bitter taste. In so doing, he isolated a compound with a laxative effect. It turned out to be magnesium sulfate (MgSO4), now known as Epsom salts.

Two hundred years later

Over the next 200 years, scientists attempted to purify the metal in this substance&#;a task made complicated by the fact that Mg is never free in nature but commonly binds with oxygen to form magnesium oxide (MgO). In , the Scottish scientist Joseph Black proposed that this unknown metal is a chemical element. 

In , the Austrian scientist Anton Rupprecht tried to purify it by heating it with charcoal. It was finally purified completely in by the British scientist Humphry Davy using electrolysis. It was finally produced in large amounts in by the French chemist Antoine Bussy. Today, it is prepared mainly by reducing MgO with silicon or through the electrolysis of molten magnesium chloride.

Sources of Magnesium

Magnesium is found in both soil and sea. ICL&#;s magnesium is extracted from the unique mineral-rich brines of the Dead Sea. Magnesium is usually bonded with another element (e.g., as MgO or magnesium chloride) and must undergo a chemical process or electrolysis to be released. 

In the soil, it enters plants through their roots to become the key component of chlorophyll, directing it to carry out photosynthesis. It is also an essential nutrient in foods, especially whole grains and green leafy vegetables.

Magnesium for Life

Humans, animals, plants, even bacteria depend on magnesium for a good life. It keeps hundreds of enzymes working properly in every human body. Humans use it to maintain strong bones and teeth, a normal heart rhythm, and normal muscle and nerve activity.

Plants use it to turn sunlight into starches and sugars for their own survival and for the nutritional needs of those of us who are higher on the food chain. Plants can also help us &#;higher-ups&#; stay healthy by killing bacteria that cause inflammation.

Its microbe-killing qualities make it suitable for cosmetics as well as medicine. Several plants are used to make creams and potions to keep our skin smooth and healthy. A good example is aloe vera. 

Known to botanists as Aloe barbadensis miller, this shrubby, succulent perennial can be used to heal skin burns and ulcers while controlling diabetes, AIDS, and cancer and fighting fungal and bacterial infections and inflammation. 

One of the key chemicals in the aloe plant that allows it to do all of this is aloin. Researchers recently learned that aloin levels increase with the amount of magnesium in the soil. As long as the proper proportion of Mg in the soil is maintained, aloin can do its job.

Applications and Uses 

The use of magnesium is determined by the other element with which it is bonded. For example, magnesium

• sulfate is used to fix the dye to fabrics, 
• hydroxide is used to make plastics fire retardant
• chloride is widely used for environmentally friendly de-icing and de-dusting
• sulfate (Epsom salts), or hydroxide (milk of magnesia) is used in medications
• oxides have a wide range of uses both in industrial and health-related applications

Industrial Uses of Magnesium 

Magnesium industrial uses take advantage of the lightweight, malleability, or bright light of free Mg, which is obtained artificially, or manipulate MgO to make it sturdier or capable of hardening in air.

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Magnesium in Industry

Lights, cameras&#;and bombs away!

The bright light given off by burning magnesium was used in flashbulbs for professional photographers. Today, it is used mainly in incendiary devices, such as distress flares, and fireworks.

Bending to every occasion

In the magnesium alloys manufacturing industry, magnesium is blended with aluminum to create lightweight, flexible components for airplanes and automobiles (e.g., car seats and luggage).

Rust prevention: the sacrificial metal

Magnesium is an electropositive metal. It can be used to coat iron and steel structures, because it corrodes preferentially to those metals, thereby preventing the formation of rust.

Personal Care Applications

Bacteria are the main cause of offensive body odors. Odor-causing bacteria usually thrive on moderate levels of magnesium in their environment. But when that concentration reaches a critical mass, it becomes toxic, threatening the integrity of the bacterial wall. 

Personal care manufacturers are taking advantage of this feature to formulate deodorants, baby skincare products, and wash-off masks while avoiding heavier metals.

ICL&#;s CareMag line for skincare products is based on magnesium and natural materials from the Dead Sea. Using magnesium salts like magnesium hydroxide and magnesium carbonate hydroxide, we produce a deodorant with an impressive malodor-lowering effect, a zinc-free rash-fighting cream for babies, and a wash-off face mask that is just as effective in smoothing skin and improving sensorial touch as its more potentially irritating predecessors.

Magnesium Oxide Industrial Uses 

Magnesium oxide (MgO) industrial uses include the manufacture of refractory bricks to line steel transfer applications and cement, which hardens quickly in its presence. It is also used in chemical industries, where its resistance to corrosion is highly valued; in the manufacture of brake linings because of its thermomechanical properties; and for plasma display screens because of its electro-optical properties. ICL manufactures magnesium oxide used in the rubber and plastics industries for the modification of polymer properties of rubber and plastic compounds.

The importance of MgO in agriculture is reflected in the decrease of soil magnesium levels accompanying the increased use of fertile soil using non-MgO fertilizers, as well as climate change, which increases carbon dioxide levels in soil, thereby increasing soil acidity and reducing magnesium levels. 

Studies have shown that MgO-based fertilizers increase crop yields and agronomic efficiency over non-MgO fertilizers. Continued studies are needed to determine the best conditions and methods for applying Mg fertilizers to optimize crop yield.

Magnesium: Good for the Body?

Why your body needs magnesium? Evidence that magnesium is good for the body lies in its ability to keep more than 300 enzymes working properly while supporting normal nerve and muscle function and controlling common clinical disorders (e.g., hypertension and diabetes mellitus).

As with any nutrient, there is always a risk of deficiency. A magnesium deficiency is difficult to identify, unfortunately, for the following reasons:

1. Magnesium stores in bone are released as blood levels decline, thereby keeping serum levels artificially high.
2. The kidneys reabsorb Mg efficiently, thereby keeping urine levels artificially high.
3. Benchmarks of normal Mg levels are lacking because serum levels have not been reported for many years in standard surveys. Thus, the low US intake of 250 to 350 mg daily (vs the recommended 310-320 mg for women and 400-420 mg for men) can produce tissue levels that appear &#;normal.&#;

In healthy individuals, a deficiency can be corrected with supplements and dietary changes. 

ICL manufactures magnesium oxide in different grades excelling in its low impurities and tailor-made physical parameters to serve the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and food industries. 

Magnesium may be sent from the heavens to Earth to maintain life as we know it. The discovery of its characteristics and methods of production has led to the development of products that make life safer and more enjoyable. Continued studies may allow us to avoid deficiencies in the human body for optimal health and in the soil to provide sustenance for the entire world.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website magnesium in mineral water.

Transcript :

Chemistry in its element: magnesium

(Promo)You're listening to Chemistry in its element brought to you by Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry(End promo)Chris SmithHello, this week we meet the substance whose chemical claim to fame is that its quite literally hit a bum note in the past as a cure for constipation. But its explosive role isn't just confined to the colon because it's also the basis of incendriary bombs and even the existence of life on earth. And to tell the story of Magnesium, here's John Emsley.John EmsleyIt was once the destroyer of cities - now it's a saver of energyThe summer of saw England gripped by drought, but as Henry Wicker walked across Epsom Common he was came across a pool of water from which thirsty cattle refused to drink. He found that the water tasted bitter and on evaporation it yielded a salt which had a remarkable effect: it acted as a laxative. This became the famous Epsom's salt (magnesium sulfate, MgSO4) and became a treatment for constipation for the next 350 years. The first person to propose that magnesium was an element was Joseph Black of Edinburgh in , and an impure form of metallic magnesium was produced in by Anton Rupprecht who heated magnesia (magnesium oxide, MgO) with charcoal. He named the element austrium after his native Austria. A small sample of the pure metal was isolated by Humphry Davy in , by the electrolysis of moist MgO, and he proposed the name magnium based on the mineral magnesite (MgCO3) which came from Magnesia in Greece. Neither name survived and eventually it was called magnesium.Magnesium is essential to almost all life on Earth - it is at the heart of the chlorophyll molecule, which plants use to convert carbon dioxide into glucose, and then to cellulose, starch, and many other molecules which pass along the food chain. Humans take in around 300 mg of magnesium per day and we need at least 200 mg, but the body has a store of around 25 g of this element in its skeleton so there is rarely a deficiency.Almonds, brazil nuts, cashew nuts, soybeans, parsnips, bran, and even chocolate are all rich in magnesium. Some brands of beer contain a lot, such as Webster's Yorkshire Bitter - it may owe some of its flavour to the high levels of magnesium sulfate in the water used to brew it.Magnesium is the seventh most abundant element in the Earth's crust, and third most abundant if the Earth's mantle is also taken into consideration because this consists largely of olivine and pyroxene, which are magnesium silicates. It is also abundant in sea water ( p.p.m.) so much so that this was the source of magnesium for bombs in World War II. The metal itself was produced by the electrolysis of the molten chloride.Once magnesium starts to burn it is almost impossible to extinguish, because it reacts exothermically with oxygen, nitrogen and water. It burns with a bright light and was used for photographic flash bulbs It made an ideal incendiary agent and in some air raids during World War II as many as half a million 2 kg magnesium bombs would be scattered over a city in the space of an hour. The result was massive conflagrations and firestorms. Bulk magnesium metal is not easily ignited so this had to be done by a thermite reaction at the heart of the bomb. The thermite reaction, between aluminium powder and iron oxide, releases more than enough heat to cause the magnesium casing of the bomb to burn fiercely.Many minerals are known which contain magnesium; but the main ones are dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate, CaMg(CO3)2) and magnesite which are mined to the extent of 10 million tonnes per year. Magnesite is heated to convert it to magnesia (MgO), and this has several applications: fertilizers; cattle feed supplement; a bulking agent in plastics; and for heat-resistant bricks for fireplaces and furnaces. The metal itself is being produced in increasing amounts. It was originally introduced for racing bicycles which were the first vehicles to use pure magnesium frames, giving a better combination of strength and lightness than other metals. (A steel frame is nearly five times heavier than a magnesium one.) For use as a metal, magnesium is alloyed with a few percent of aluminium, plus traces of zinc and manganese, to improve strength, corrosion resistance and welding qualities, and this alloy is used to save energy by making things lighter. It is found in car and aircraft seats, lightweight luggage, lawn mowers, power tools, disc drives and cameras. At the end of its useful life the magnesium in all these products can be recycled at very little cost. Because it is an electropositive metal, magnesium can be act as a 'sacrificial' electrode to protect iron and steel structures because it corrodes away preferentially when they are exposed to water which otherwise would cause rustingChris SmithSo better bikes, better bombs and better bums. Thank you very much to science writer John Emsley for telling the tale of Magnesium. Next week the illuminating story of the element that spawned a light bulb but really needs to work on its image.Quentin CooperIf any element needs a change of PR this is the one. It's brittle, prone to ponginess and arguably the dunce of the periodic table. Even the man who discovered osmium treated it rather sniffily. It reeked - or at least some of its compounds did. Tennant described the "pungent and penetrating smell" as one of the new element's "most distinguishing characters". So he called it osmium - osme being the Greek for odour.Chris SmithThat's Quentin Cooper who will be undressing osmium for us in next week's Chemistry in its element, I hope you can join us. I'm Chris Smith, thank you for listening, see you next time. (Promo)Chemistry in its element is brought to you by the Royal Society of Chemistry and produced by thenakedscientists.com. There's more information and other episodes of Chemistry in its element on our website at chemistryworld.org/elements.
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