State of the Art in the Refining and Recycling of Magnesium

Abstract

In order for magnesium to continue to grow, all forms of magnesium scrap need to be recycled – for both economic and environmental reasons. This paper extensively reviews the techniques for the refining and recycling of magnesium. Removal of inter-metallic elements and inclusions through gas fluxing, filtration and other methods are summarized. Flux refining technology is the old but most common method to purify magnesium metal. Fluxless refining technologies are under development, such as salt furnace technology, inert gas and filter refining, vacuum distillation refining, and hydrometallurgical methods. Magnesium scraps recycling is discussed, techniques to protecting Mg (or Mg alloy) melt with protective atmosphere and salt flux are briefly introduced.