Hebei Messi Biology Co., Ltd. stated that magnesium oxide is an important inorganic chemical product that is widely used in chemical industry, light industry, food, medicine, coatings, rubber, electronics, metallurgy, building materials and other industries. It has a wide range of applications and varieties. According to Processing methods can be divided into two broad categories: calcined magnesium oxide and synthetic magnesium oxide.
Calcined magnesium oxide is generally produced by calcining magnesite as raw material under certain equipment and temperature. China’s magnesite resources are relatively abundant, making calcined magnesium oxide a bulk primary processing product exported by my country, which also results in the loss of resources. and pollution problems. For this reason, the state has stepped up control over this.
Synthetic magnesium oxide is produced from mineral or liquid raw materials through a series of chemical transformations and processing processes. Its raw materials are divided into two categories: solid minerals and liquid raw materials: solid minerals mainly include brucite, dolomite, serpentine, etc., and liquid The raw materials are mainly seawater, underground brine and salt lake brine.
The upstream of the magnesium oxide industry chain includes raw materials such as magnesite, dolomite, brine, and brine blocks; magnesium oxide is widely used in various fields of industry and life due to its low cost, high stability, and easy synthesis. In terms of fields, the downstream is mainly used in refractory materials, metallurgy, food additives, medicine, rubber and other industries.
Magnesium is a metallic element. From magnesium-containing ores to metallic magnesium or high-temperature resistant magnesium oxide, this technology has been used unchanged in the world’s industrial production for nearly 200 years. Magnesium resources are rich in types and widely distributed. In addition to abundant solid magnesium-containing minerals, magnesium-containing evaporative minerals (seawater, brine, salt lakes) resources are inexhaustible. The current reserves of magnesium-containing resources can fully meet human demand for magnesium, and will not even be a problem for some time in the future. Natural brine can be considered a recyclable resource, so magnesium mined by humans is regenerated in a relatively short period of time.
China and Russia have large-scale magnesium processing equipment. These two countries produce two-thirds of the world’s magnesium oxide. Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States mainly extract magnesium from seawater and brine, and their magnesium oxide production accounts for about 52% of the global total. Australia, Brazil, China, Iran, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States also produce fused magnesite.
Magnesium oxide is widely used in refractory industries that require high-temperature refining, such as steel, ceramics, cement, and glass. The purity of magnesium oxide is different, and the products produced will be different. Taking the steel industry as an example, my country’s steel production accounts for 60% of the world’s total steel production, but most of the steel produced is crude steel. This is because the refractory materials in steel-making furnaces cannot meet the requirements of the environment for the production of special steel. The most basic and important synthetic raw material for refractory materials is magnesium oxide.
Analysis of application prospects and supply and demand pattern of magnesium oxide industry in 2023
From a global perspective, the global magnesium oxide supply and demand market is basically balanced and has shown steady growth in recent years. According to statistics, the global magnesium oxide industry output in 2022 will be approximately 25.993 million tons, and the demand will be approximately 25.993 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.08% and 5.12% respectively. China is the world’s largest magnesium oxide producer, with its annual production accounting for more than 75% of the world’s total. On the supply side, my country’s magnesium oxide production capacity will be approximately 22.645 million tons in 2022, and magnesium oxide output will be approximately 20.348 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4% and 4.84% respectively.
As a country with large reserves of magnesium resources, my country has more urgent technical needs in the fields of magnesium resource mining and magnesium product development. In recent years, with the rapid development of science and technology, the demand for magnesium oxide at home and abroad is increasing. Data shows that my country’s magnesium industry demand will be approximately 19.891 million tons in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 5%. At present, my country’s magnesium oxide products are mainly exported, but magnesium oxide products for different uses, such as high-purity fused magnesium oxide, magnesium oxide for electric heaters and nano-magnesium oxide, still need to be imported to meet domestic market demand. Data show that China’s magnesium import volume in 2022 will be approximately 18,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 10%; the export volume will be approximately 475,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.66%.
With the rapid growth of magnesium oxide production and export volume, many constraints to the further development of China’s calcined magnesium oxide industry have gradually emerged. First, due to years of almost predatory mining, the reserves of high-quality magnesium ore resources have declined rapidly, and the mining volume of high-quality ore has decreased year by year; second, due to slow technological progress, high-end magnesium oxide products are still controlled by foreign manufacturers, especially those with low utilization rates. There is still no breakthrough in the technology for producing high-end magnesium oxide from high-grade magnesite. With the continuous depletion of high-quality magnesite, the quality of magnesia products continues to decline; thirdly, China’s magnesite production and export enterprises have been “loose, The phenomenon of “many and small” means that the industry order and standards are not perfect enough.
In the context of increasing global environmental awareness, sustainable development has become an important direction for industry development. As an environmentally friendly material, magnesium oxide has the characteristics of low pollution and reproducibility, and has broad application prospects in the fields of sustainable construction, waste treatment and environmental protection. The industry will trend towards green production and circular economy to reduce resource consumption and environmental impact.
As technology advances and market demand continues to increase, the demand for high-purity and high-quality magnesium oxide products will increase. This includes magnesium oxide products with higher purity, more uniform particles and more complete crystals. High-purity magnesium oxide is widely used in electronics, optics, medical and other fields, so the development of high-purity products is an important direction in the market.