By Sandriele Streit
Brazil is a country that is incredibly rich in natural sources and home to an immense coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean is an endless source of resources and responsible for providing the majority of magnesium compounds of a high level of purity. Did you know that high-purity marine magnesium is extracted here in Brazil? Follow us and learn more about these extraction processes and the advantages of marine magnesium when compared to mineral magnesium!
Magnesium of marine origin versus mineral magnesium
Magnesium is the sixth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and the third most abundant element in seawater. It is present in the human body, plants, soil, water and everything around us. Due to vast nature of magnesium’s presence, it can be obtained from a variety of sources, including mineral and precipitate magnesium sources. The physical and chemical properties of magnesium compounds are intrinsically dependent upon the source from which they are extracted.
Mineral sources are obtained from rock such as dolomite (CaOMgO), magnesite, [MgCO3] and brucite [Mg(OH)2]. A major obstacle in the extraction of magnesium from a mineral source is the amount of other elements also present in rock, which can decrease the purity of magnesium compounds and the resistance of magnesium mineral compounds to transformations of their physical and chemical characteristics.
Sources of synthetic magnesium may include seawater or brines. Magnesium is present in seawater in its ionic form (Mg2+) and is the third most abundant ion behind only sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) ions. In order to obtain magnesium compounds, seawater is captured and the magnesium it contains is synthesized into magnesium hydroxide before passing through a thermal decomposition process to become magnesium oxide (MgO).
Advantages of marine magnesium
The process of obtaining magnesium from seawater allows for greater versatility in the physical and chemical properties of the compounds obtained. It is possible to obtain, for example, compounds with a wide range of reactivity, particle size and densities ranging from extra light to heavy.
Magnesium compounds obtained from a marine source also have a high degree of purity. They can therefore be used in a variety of applications, from industry and food supplements and additives to pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
Bel Mag, combining technology with respect for the environment, extracts magnesium from seawater in Balneário Barra do Sul, which is located off the coast of Santa Catarina. The company synthesizes, through means of a specific process and automated production, high-purity products such as magnesium hydroxide powder, magnesium hydroxide paste, magnesium oxide, magnesium carbonate and mineral supplements used in magnesium chloride solutions.
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