The process to high quality products

Premier Periclase Ltd represents decades of experience in producing high quality Magnesium Oxide and Magnesium Hydroxide products. We offer our customers a broad spectrum of qualified services.

Our Raw Materials

The two main raw materials are seawater and limestone (Calcium Carbonate, CaCO3).  There is also significant energy input into the process in the form of Natural Gas, Petroleum Coke and Electricity.

Seawater

Seawater contains approximately 3.5% dissolved salts, of which about 0.5% are soluble Magnesium Chloride (MgCl2) and Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4) salts.  Approximately 500 Tonnes of seawater are required to produce 1 Tonne of Magnesium Oxide (MgO).

Seawater is pumped twice a day at high tide from the estuary of the River Boyne to a large reservoir located 5km from the factory.  Seawater is pumped from the reservoir to the factory where it is degassed to remove hardness before going to the reactor.

Limestone

High purity Limestone comes from local quarries, located about 8km southwest of the plant.  The limestone is crushed, graded and transported to the production plant.

The Process Stages

Limestone Calcination & Slaking

The Limestone is calcined (high temperature firing) at approximately 1600℃ in a rotary kiln to convert it to quicklime (Calcium Oxide, CaO).

 

The chemical reaction is given by the following equation:

CaCO3 + Heat (1600℃) → CaO + CO2 (gas) ↑

The resulting quicklime is then mixed with freshwater and converted to lime slurry (Calcium Hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) in a highly exothermic reaction known as hydration or slaking:

CaO + H2O → Ca(OH)2 + Heat ↑

1. Precipitation of Magnesium Hydroxide

After slaking, the lime slurry is pumped to the reactor where it reacts with the degassed seawater. Precipitation of Magnesium Hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) occurs instantaneously and is described by the following equation:

MgCl2 + Ca(OH)2 → Mg(OH)2↓ + CaCl2

After the reactor, the Magnesium Hydroxide slurry flows to two large tanks known as primary thickeners, where the Magnesium Hydroxide crystals are settled and thickened.

2. Filtration and Washing

The settled Magnesium Hydroxide slurry is pumped to two secondary thickeners and then to rotary vacuum filters in the multiple hearth furnace (MHF) building.Here the slurry is filtered and washed with freshwater and the filter cake is sent to two pressure filters, which squeeze more water from the cake to increase the solids content further and reduce the amount of water going onto the next stage of the process – magnesia calcination.
Drumfilters
Belt Press
Belt Press

ECOMAG is extracted from the process at this point and sent to a dedicated silo from where it is loaded into bulk road tankers for delivery to customers in Ireland and United Kingdom.

Calcination and Briquetting

Premier Periclase operates two natural gas-fired multiple hearth furnaces in parallel. Each furnace has sixteen hearths, and the Magnesium Hydroxide filter cake is pushed from one floor to the next in a zigzag pattern down through the furnace.

Excess moisture is boiled off in the first six hearths, while in the middle hearths (#7 – # 12) the Magnesium Hydroxide is thermally decomposed at temperatures in the region of 1000℃ to Magnesium Oxide (MgO).

The thermal decomposition reaction is represented by the following chemical equation:

 

Mg(OH)2 + Heat (1000℃) → MgO + H2O (water vapour)↑

 

The material, known as Caustic Calcinated Magnesia or CCM (Magnesium Oxide, MgO), is cooled to 300℃ in the lower hearths and then pressed into stick shaped pellets or green briquettes. These pellets are the feed for the final stage of the process, known as sintering.

TechMag Bulk Storage Silo
TechMag Bagging Plant

At this stage our Caustic Calcined Magnesia (TechMag) products are extracted from the process to dedicated storage silos. This product has two options for despatch, bulk road tankers or 1 tonne big bags in containers.

Sintering in Shaft Kiln

The last high temperature stage in the process is sintering and it is done in two vertical natural gas-fired shaft kilns. Each kiln has a rated output of 35,000 Tonnes per annum.

 

Green pellets are fed to the shaft kilns, where they are heated to temperature in the region of 2300℃. The intense heat encourages the Magnesia crystals to grow, and the briquettes begin to shrink as the bulk density increases. The final product, Periclase (also known as Sintermagnesia or Dead Burned Magnesia / DBM), is a very dense, chemically inert, refractory grade sinter magnesia.

DBM Storage

After sintering, the periclase is transported to a covered storage warehouse from where it is sent to the wharf for bulk shipment or to the bagging plant for smaller loads in bulk containers.

DBM Despatch

Premier Periclase operates its own private wharf in the port of Drogheda. Products are loaded directly from the plant into ships for direct passage to Europe. Quantities up to 4,000 Tonnes can be shipped directly from the wharf facility. The company also ships bagged or loose product in containers to destinations worldwide.

Process Flow Sheet

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Contact

  • Premier Periclase Limited
    Boyne Road, Drogheda
    County Louth Ireland
    Eircode: A92 X865
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