Information about Pidgeon Process

The Pidgeon process is one of the methods of magnesium metal production, via a silicothermic reduction. Practical production requires roughly 35-40 MWh/ton of metal produced, which is on par with the molten salt electrolytic methods of production, though above the 7 MWh/ton theoretical minimum.

Chemistry

The basic chemical equations of this process are:

Si(s) + MgO(s) ↔ SiO₂(s) + Mg(g) (high temperature, distillation boiling zone)

Mg(g) ↔ Mg(liq, s) (low temperature, distillation condensing zone)

Silicon and magnesia react to produce silica and magnesium.

Though, according to Ellingham diagrams, this reaction is thermodynamically unfavorable, in accordance with the Le Chatelier's principle of equilibriums, it can still be driven to the right by continuous supply of heat, and by removing one of the products, namely distilling out the magnesium vapor. The atmospheric pressure boiling point of magnesium metal is very low, only 1090 °C, and even lower in vacuum. Vacuum is preferred, because it allows lower temperatures.

The most commonly used and cheapest form of silicon is as a ferrosilicon alloy. The iron from the alloy is but a spectator in the reactions.

The magnesium raw material of this reaction is magnesium oxide, which can be obtained by several ways. In all cases the raw materials have to be calcined to remove both water and carbon dioxide, which would be gaseous at reaction temperatures, and follow the magnesium vapor around, and revert the reaction.

One way is by sea or lakewater magnesium chloride hydrolyzed to hydroxide, which is then calcined to magnesium oxide by removal of water. Another way is using mined magnesite (MgCO₃) that has been calcined to magnesium oxide by carbon dioxide removal. By far the most used raw material is mined dolomite, a mixed (Ca,Mg)CO₃, where the calcium oxide present in the reaction zone scavenges the silica formed, releasing heat and consuming one of the products, thus helping push the equilibrium to the right.

(Ca,Mg)CO₃ (s) → CaO.MgO(s)+ CO₂(g) (dolomite calcining)

(Fe,Si)(s) + MgO(s) ↔ Fe(s) + SiO₂(s) + Mg(g)

CaO + SiO₂ → CaSiO₃

The Pidgeon process is a batch process in which finely powdered calcined dolomite and ferrosilicon are mixed, briquetted, and charged retorts of made of nickel-chrome-steel alloy. The hot reaction zone portion of the retort is either gasfired, coalfired, or electrically heated in a furnace, while the condensing section equipped with removable baffles extends from the furnace and is water-cooled. Due to distillation, very high purity magnesium crowns are produced, which are then remelted and cast into ingots.

Carbothermic unfeasible

The usual metallurgic carbon as the deoxidising reducing agent instead of silicon cannot be used, because the silicon dioxide is a solid, while carbon dioxide and monoxide are both gaseous, and would follow the magnesium around, and revert the reaction back, as follows (note the arrow reversal). This wouldn't work:

C(s) + MgO(s) → CO(g) + Mg(g) (high temperature, distillation boiling zone)

C(s) + MgO(s) ← CO(g) + Mg(g) (low temperature, distillation condensing zone)

In this case all you'd get is the initial reactants back, except they moved around to the cooler condensing zones inside your reactor, even though temporarily you'd have intermediate carbon monoxide and actual magnesium vapors. There is still a doable process with carbon, that uses shock-freezing of the vapors, to disallow any time for the reverse reaction - though such shock cooling is a far stretch to be an economical industrial process.

At temperatures where the magnesium is still liquid or solid (say 600-700°C), but carbon oxides are gaseous, the immense thermodynamic counter drive makes the reactions impractical, even if the carbon monoxide were purged away by argon, and somehow stripped to recycle the argon. The equilibrium can theoretically be driven either way, and it is driven, but it's impractically slow if the forward and reverse reaction rates are minuscule. Basically, nothing detectable happens, unless you have a few decades on your hands to wait around for the results.

This would be impractically slow at low temperatures

C(s) + MgO(s) ↔ CO(g) + Mg(l)

At low temperatures the reaction energetics dominate everything else, and in this sense too silicon outperforms carbon, because silicon dioxide has a much larger heat of formation than the carbon oxides, as best seen in Ellingham diagrams.

Historical background

This process was invented in early 1940's by Dr. Lloyd Montgomery Pidgeon of the Canadian National Research Council (NRC). The first plant was built in 1941 and operated by Dominion Magnesium in Haley, Ontario, Canada. This plant operated for 63 years, most recently by Timminco Metals. In the last 10 years, the Pidgeon process has come to dominate the world magnesium production. China is the dominant magnesium metal supplier, relying almost exclusively on this method.

World market issues

Prior to the mid 1990s the world market for magnesium metal production was dominated by electrolytic processes, with the United States as the dominant supplier. For over 80 years Dow Chemical operated a 65 kton/y capacity plant near Freeport, TX, based on seawater extracted magnesium chloride electrolysis, which was the prime magnesium metal supplier until its closure in 1998. As of 2005, there is a single US producer, in Utah, US Magnesium, a company borne from now-defunct Magcorp.^[1][2] Very severe antidumping tariffs are in the process of being imposed on Chinese imports. As of 2005, the US produces about 45 out of a 615 kton/yr, or 7%, compared to 140 out of 311 kton/yr, or 45% in 1995. In contrast, today China produces 400 out of the 615 kton/yr, or 65%, compared to 12 out of 311 kton/yr, or 4%, in 1995.

The price of magnesium metal plummeted from $2300/t in 1995 to $1300/t by 2001, but recently (2004) climbed back over $2300/t, due to increased ferrosilicon, energy and transportation costs, and in anticipation of severe antidumping duties throughout the world.

As stated above, the energy efficiency of thermal processes is comparable to electrolytic ones, both requiring roughly 35-40 MWh/ton. The Pidgeon method is less complex technologically, however, and better suited to the cheap but low skill labor market in China. In the past, besides the US, the other major magnesium producers have traditionally included Norsk Hydro of Norway/Canada, and to a lesser extent, the former Soviet Union countries, Brazil and France, all possessing cheap and abundant hydroelectric or nuclear electric power. A player recently stepping on the world market is Israel, while Australian company Magnesium International is planning a 100 kton/yr smelter at Sokhna in Egypt, using the Dow electrolytic process.

References

• USGS up to date and historical data
• A USEPA datafile example
• Historical background
• World Trends, Markets - Dec 2002
• Energy efficiency reference