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Researchers explore mining seawater for critical metals (grist.org)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Since a lot of people seem to be jumping to extreme conclusions about this based on specious assumptions, here's how the process works according to the article:

Magrathea — named after a planet in the hit novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — buys waste brines, often from desalination plants, and allows the water to evaporate, leaving behind magnesium chloride salts. Next, it passes an electrical current through the salts to separate them from the molten magnesium, which is then cast into ingots or machine components.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

that description is also not entirely accurate, because they're separating magnesium chloride by crystallization i guess, maybe some other methid, and then dry it, melt it, electrolysis gives magnesium metal and chlorine gas. just like in conventional process