The European Regional Development Fund allocated 225,375.50 euros to Ragn-Sells to continue research into how, in addition to calcium carbonate, magnesium, which the European Union has named as one of the critical raw materials, could be extracted from the oil shale ashes lying unused in Ida-Virumaa. The project implementation period is 01.11.2022 - 31.10.2023.
The aim of the project is to carry out an application study to test and validate a process for the separation of magnesium particles from the waste produced during PCC production. As a result of the project, the capacity to recycle the waste materials of one of the production processes is created - magnesium is separated from the waste material, and iron is re-used as a by-product. As a result of the project, magnesium separation technology has been tested. Magnesium is a very light metal that is widely used in our daily life and is most in demand in the automotive, aircraft, rocket and many other machine industries. When alloyed with other metals, magnesium makes various machine parts and constructions many times lighter and also gives them better mechanical properties. In addition, magnesium compounds are used in the production or enhancement of rust and scale removers, glass, pharmaceuticals, paints and many other items. Magnesium is also a commodity in demand in agriculture as a valuable fertilizer and important nutrient for crops.
According to Ragn-Sells project manager Alar Saluste in the European Union alone, 155,000 tons of magnesium are needed every year, of which nearly 93% is currently imported from China. "We have come so far with our scientific research that we can safely say - the oil shale ash mountains of Ida-Virumaa and Narva contain an opportunity with which the Estonian state can alleviate the ever-increasing magnesium demand problem for Europe," added Saluste. "Considering that the European Union wants to reduce its dependence on critical raw materials and to produce at least 100,000 tons of magnesium in its region by 2030, we could guarantee about 30% of it annually. If you take into account that there are about 600 million tons of oil shale ash in the mountains of Ida-Virumaa, this is a very big opportunity to revive the economy of both Ida-Virumaa and Estonia. On the global stage, this project would attract attention both from the point of view of the circular economy, but also because, compared to today's production, it would be possible to extract magnesium from the ashes with an 80% smaller CO2 footprint."
The purpose of the applied research program of EAS and KredEx is to support the knowledge-intensive product and technology development of Estonian companies. "Our exporting companies are in global competition, and research-intensive development work helps increase competitiveness. At the same time, the applied research stage is risky, as the investments are large and there is no certainty of the success of the development, and that is why the state supports ambitious technology projects similar to Ragn-Sells' developments," said the development manager of the EAS applied research program Kaupo Reede.
The joint institution of EAS and KredEx is one of the most important partners of the Ragn-Sells OSA project in Estonia. Partly thanks to the previous contributions of EAS, the oil shale ash beneficiation project has reached the experimental laboratories of the University of Tartu and TallTech to the factory projects, and thanks to ongoing research, it has been established that magnesium and other elements can be extracted from the ash with the same solution.
In September, the Narva council unanimously approved the initiation of detailed planning and environmental impact assessment, which started preparatory work for the construction of the Ragn-Sells oil shale ash processing plant in the immediate vicinity of the Balti Elektrijaama territory. By 2025, a demo plant will be completed next to the city of Narva, and a main plant by 2028.
The plant can reprocess more than one million tons of oil shale ash and bind 250,000 tons of CO2 annually, resulting in the production of approx. 500,000 tons of ultra-pure calcium carbonate. With the help of a unique patented solution, waste is turned into a new raw material that can be used to produce paints, window frames, floor coverings, paper and many other items needed in everyday life. To date, large global companies have already shown great interest in the product. Among them, Gealan (Germany), one of the largest manufacturers of plastic window frames in Europe, and Tarkett (France), one of the five largest manufacturers of floor materials in the world, who want to use raw materials with the smallest possible CO2 footprint in their production. Under the conditions of meeting the strict climate goals set in the European Union and Estonia, the preference for such materials is a growing trend.
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