Page 755

 MAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS 755 
World sea water magnesia production are as follows: 
facilities by company and annual capacity 
Country 
. 
Location 
Company 
Capacity 
(short tons 
MgO) 
Canada          
Ireland          
Israel           
Italy           
Japan           
Mexico          
Norway         
U.S.S.R         
Aguathuna, Newfoundlanth    Dungarvan, Waterford       Arad             
      (Syracuse, Sicily             
~ 
ISant'Antioco, Sardinia       (Hotsu                    
Navetsu                 fMinamata, Onohama, Toyama~ lUbe, Yamaguchi     
Ciudad Madero, Tampico     Heroya, Oslo Fjord           
NA 
Lundrigan's Ltd  
Pfizer Chemical Corp  
Dead Sea Works, Ltd  
Compagnia Generale de Magnesio S.p.A.' 
Sardamag S.p.A                
Hokuriku Seien K.K  
Nihon Kasui Kako              
Shin-Nihon Chemical Industries Co.~ 
Ube Chemical Industries Co., Lt& -- 
Quimica del Mar SA  
Norsk Hydro-Elektrisk Kvaeistof 
A/S. 
30,000 
75,000 
50,000 
60,000 
120,000 
35,000 
120,000 
170,000 
420,000 
50,000 
80,000 
100,000 
United Kingdom - - 
United States     
Hartlepool County, Durham     
(2) 
Steetley, Ltd                  
250,000 
660,000 
Total 
2,220,000 
NA Not available. 
1 Under construction. 
2Sea water production facilities appear in tabulation shown in "Domestic
Production" section of this chapter. 
TECHNOLOGY 
The Philadelphia Electric Company is installing a prototype system to absorb
sulfur dioxide from flue gas with magnesium oxide.2 The system will be in
operation in late 1973 and will be the first of its kind installed on a coal-fired
unit. The total cost of the facilities will be approximately $15 million.
The Potomac Electric Power Company planned to install a prototype system
also to absorb sulfur dioxide from flue gas with magnesium oxide using a
process developed by Chemical Construction Company and Basic Chemicals of
Cleveland.3 This plant will not probably be in operation before 1975. The
approximate cost of the facilities will be about $6' million. 
New methods to beneficiate domestic ohvine for foundry sand applications
were investigated.4 A disadvantage of calcining olivine in conventional rotary
kiln or fluidtype calciners is partial oxidation of ferrous oxide, which
is undesirable in foundry sands. A laboratory tube-type furnace, making use
of the free-flowing properties of olivine sand, was designed for continuous
calcining. Utilizing this technique, highquality foundry sand could be produced
from olivine by calcining under nonoxidizing conditions. 
A report on the refractory magnesia industry in Canada was published by the
Mines Branch of the Department of Energy, Mines, and Resources.5 The review
induded information on the occurrence of magnesite, current commercial exploitation
of magnesite, and sea water magnesia in Canada. An artide was published summarizing
the development work leading to the analysis of periclase products by atomic
absoi-ption~6 Test results showed that agreement between atomic absorption
and wet chemical methods for calcium oxide, silica, iron and alumina were
good. It was concluded that atomic absorption methods were suitable for quality
control analyses of peridase grain containing greater than 95% MgO. 
2Anmment of the State-of-Technology of Air Pollution Control Equipment and
of the Impact of Clean Air Regulations on the Adequacy of Electric Power
Supply of North America Bulk Power Systems. National Electric Reliability
Council. Appendix G, October 1972. 
 Gas Scrubber for Pepco. The Washington Daii~ News. No. 51, Jan. 5, 1972,
p. 22. 
~ Bedeker, Immo H. Beneficiation of Olivine for 
Foundry Sand by Calcining. Minerals Research 
Laboratory, Report No. MRL-2, North Carolina 
State Univ., August 1972. 17 pp. 
 Palfreyman, M. Refractory-Grade Magnesia in Canada. Tech. Bull., TB 163,
November 1972. 
 Werner, Glen E. Analysis of Periclase b~ Atomic Absorption (AA). Prize Winning
Papers in the 1972 Award Contest for the Best Papers on any Phase of Refractories.
April 13—14, 1972, pp. 21—30; available from The Refractories
Institute, 3154 One Oliver Plaza, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222.