Research team:

Dr Nigel Ricketts (group leader, CSIRO Manufacturing Science & Technology, Casthouse Technology), Dr Simon Cashion (UQ research engineer), Craig Korn (technician, CSIRO Manufacturing Science & Technology), Stephen Peck (technician, CSIRO Manufacturing Science & Technology), Dr Malcom Frost (technical manager, Australian Magnesium Corporation)

Funding:

Fully funded CAST project (AUD$502,000 over the past two years 1999/2000 and 2000/2001)

Email/Web link:

nigel.ricketts@cmst.csiro.au simon.cashion@cat.csiro.au craig.korn@cmst.csiro.au stephen.peck@cmst.csiro.au m.frost@austmg.au www.cast.crc.org.au

Faculty of Engineering, Physical Sciences & Architecture

An industry collaboration involving University of Queensland researchers will reduce greenhouse gas emissions during magnesium processing by millions of tonnes per annum.

A new environmentally friendly melt protection system for molten magnesium is the result of work by UQ and CSIRO researchers and representatives from the Australian Magnesium Corporation (AMC).

Unveiled at an international conference held in Germany last year, the patented technology replaces a potent greenhouse gas currently used in the process, sulphur hexafluoride, with the hydroflurocarbon gas HFC-134a commonly used as a refrigerant in car air-conditioners.

For more than 20 years, magnesium producers and casters have used sulphur hexafluoride to protect molten magnesium from burning in air.

Sulphur hexafluoride has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) 24,000 times greater than that of carbon dioxide, leading to a call for targeted reduction in its use under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol for Climate Change.

The promising new melt protection system uses HFC-134a, which is not toxic, corrosive or flammable, does not contribute to ozone depletion and has a GWP some 18 times less than sulphur hexafluoride. It is also widely available at about one-third the cost.

"Replacing sulphur hexafluoride with HFC-134a in the foundry of our magnesium plant at Stanwell will annually reduce equivalent carbon dioxide production by almost one million tonnes and avoid us having to use highly toxic and corrosive alternatives," said Richard Hill, AMC General Manager.

"AMC will continue supporting the CRC for Cast Metals Manufacturing (CAST), not only to optimise the use of HFC-134a, but also to identify other cover gases, even less harmful to our environment. This development forms part of AMC's objective of facilitating the safer and more efficient use of magnesium by its potential customers."

The new technology has the potential to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by the world's magnesium industry equivalent to more than five million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum.

Magnesium is rightly viewed as "the metal of the future". The lightest of all structural metals, magnesium is ideal for applications in the automotive industry. The drive towards fuel-efficient, light-weight vehicles is intensifying the usage of magnesium.

Western-world demand for magnesium continued its upward trend to 375,000 tonnes in 1999. Importantly, demand by the die-casting sector increased to 133,000 tonnes, a rise of 21 percent on the previous year. The automotive industry accounts for approximately 90 percent of die-casting demand.

"Australia leads the world in many areas of magnesium research and development," said Professor Gordon Dunlop, CEO of CAST. "We have contributed significantly to the industry's technical capability and are well-poised to reap the benefits of this new industry through supply of metal, new technologies, and innovative products.

AMC has developed a new production process to take advantage of enormous reserves of magnesite in central Queensland.

A semi-commercial-scale demonstration plant has been in operation since August 1999, and is one of the cleanest in the world.

AMC will soon begin construction of a full-scale commercial plant with a 90,000 tonnes per annum capacity, making it the largest in the world.

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