Developer of Magnesium-from-Seawater Process Forms Chlorine Distribution Partnership

Tidal Metals, based in Hamilton, New Jersey, developed the proprietary technology and production system that harvests magnesium from seawater—the largest source on Earth—using only electricity. Over the past eight years, Tidal Metals’ three Ph.D. co-founders have solved each of the technical hurdles preventing the economic, efficient, and scalable production of magnesium in the U.S. to reshore the production of this critical metal for national security and economic growth.

Over 90% of primary magnesium metal is produced in China using an 80-year-old, environmentally damaging, and energy-intensive refining process for mined magnesium ores, according to a Tidal Metals press release. The U.S. and Europe are completely dependent on foreign imports for their primary magnesium metals. Tidal Metals, capitalized by DCVC, says its magnesium-from-seawater process is low-cost, highly scal­able, and environmentally harmless.

“The world’s oceans contain a nearly infinite supply of magnesium,” said Dr. Howard Yuh, CEO of Tidal Metals. “Extracting magnesium from seawater economically is a very challenging technical problem, which our team has invested eight years of intensive R&D to solve.” 

The Tidal Metals process avoids terrestrial mining and costly chemical inputs and eliminates harmful mining waste streams. “Our lowest-cost, environmentally harmless production can quickly scale to supply growing demand from the U.S. and beyond,” Yuh said. “We cannot fail to secure our supply of this defining metal of the 21st century.”  CS