THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MULTIPOLAR MAGNESIUM CELL: A CASE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN A COMPETITIVE WORLD

摘要

The author conceived the first multipolar magnesium electrolytic cell in the late 1970s, in order to offset the impact of an 80kA monopolar cell developed in cooperation with Osaka Titanium Company (OTC) being licensed by Alcan to a major competitor of OTC. During the 1980s the commercial value of the multipolar magnesium cell technology was established. The 1990s saw significant further progress by OTC, while attempts by Alcan to commercialize it in magnesium production plants met with technical difficulties and failure, due primarily to the lack of magnesium chloride feed of adequate quality. Now the author plans to commercialize a new multipolar cell design with a target productivity of 8-10 tons/day and a unit power consumption of 8.5-10 KWHR/kg of magnesium.