Table Of ContentTHE MAGNESIUM
CIVILIZATION
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
THE MAGNESIUM
CIVILIZATION
AN ALTERNATIVE
NEW SOURCE OF ENERGY TO OIL
Takashi Yabe
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
Tatsuya Yamaji
binWord Inc., Japan
Translated from the original Japanese by
Tomoko and Tayfun Tezduyar
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
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The Magnesium Civilization: An Alternative New Source of Energy to Oil
Copyright © 2011by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
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ISBN978-981-4303-65-1(Hardcover)
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Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
Contents
Preface
vii
Chapter 1 Natural Energy and Hydrogen Society:
Alternatives to Oil Civilization? 1
Chapter 2 Make Laser from Sunlight 21
Chapter 3 Making Magnesium with Laser 61
Chapter 4 Burning Magnesium 81
Chapter 5 Extracting Freshwater and Magnesium
from Seawater 103
Chapter 6 The Magnesium-Recycling Society Is Coming! 115
Epilogue
Afterword
131
Index
137
139
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
Preface
“This is it.”
It was a short stick made of a beautiful green-colored material
like jade that the professor placed on the table. And a plastic bag
filled with small metal flakes in silver-white color was placed next
to it.
This green stick and the silver-white metal will change the
world.
If someone told you that, what would you think?
The green stick was a chromium co-doped neodymium yttrium
aluminum garnet (YAG) laser medium. It is a magic stone that
converts sunlight into a direct laser beam. The silver-white metal
is not such a rare thing. It is magnesium, a lightweight and durable
metal.
About a few years ago I (Yamaji) heard for the first time about the
research of Professor Takashi Yabe at Tokyo Institute of Technology.
The professor said that he could smelt metal magnesium with laser
generated by sunlight. It is magnificent research, but how on earth
can such research be realized? I clearly remember that that was what
I thought.
Was the research really advancing? I visited Professor Yabe’s
laboratory by coincidence and found out that in fact they were
steadily getting results from their research there.
Even with the bad weather conditions in Tokyo, the chromium co-
doped neodymium YAG laser medium oscillates laser from sunlight.
And a powerful laser smelts the magnesium. Metal magnesium can
be smelted from a compound instantly by irradiating laser. Professor
Yabe says that we can drive a car and operate a power station by
using as fuel magnesium produced in this way.
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
viii Preface ix
What will supply the enormous amount of magnesium is the
sea—extracting magnesium from seawater, smelting it at low cost,
and returning the wasted fuel into metal magnesium with laser
again.
In this cycle greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, are not
emitted. This is the vision for the recycling society using magnesium
in place of oil and coal.
Hearing just this part of the research, many would think of it as
science fiction. Actually the practical use of some part of the research
has already started.
Recently natural energy is attracting much attention because of
the uneasiness with the supply of fossil fuels and the sense of the
global-warming crisis. The usage of solar power generation with
the solar battery panel, wind power generation, and biomass is
advancing slowly. The hybrid car, which combines a gasoline engine
with a charged battery, is now popular, and it is said that a car running
only by electricity will soon be on the market.
Then, would solar power generation and the electric car become
the radical solution to the energy and environmental problems?
To tell the truth, solar power generation cannot meet our current
energy demand. The electric car has problems with the resources
that it needs and the mileage it can give.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced, as an
ambitious target, that Japan would “reduce the greenhouse gases
25% compared to 1990,” but the response from the business world
has not been welcoming: “It is impossible to realize that, anyway.”
However, I think a big opportunity is waiting for us. An idea that
is beyond the conventional framework produces new technologies
and even changes the social structure. We are at an industrial
turning point, the end of the fossil fuel era, which lasted for almost
200 years.
The vision of the “magnesium-recycling society” offers us a
suggestion about the society we should aim for.
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
viii Preface ix
For this book, Yamaji gathered research material from Professor
Yabe (“I” in the text means Professor Yabe). I tried to, as much as I
could, explain a complicated research in plain words so that a person
who is not an expert can easily understand it.
What kind of world does advanced technology lead us to? I very
much want you to feel the excitement with this book. Tatsuya Yamaji
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
Chapter 1
Natural ENErgy aNd HydrogEN
SoCiEty: altErNativES to oil
CivilizatioN?
Oil Civilization: A Beginning of an End
It won’t take us that long to reach the end of the jackpot (a big win)
period that we human beings have been temporarily experiencing.
After the Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century,
we have consumed abundant fossil fuels to enrich our lives and meet
our material needs. It started with the use of the steam engine in
the textile industry. Heavy industry such as the steel industry greatly
progressed, and the steam locomotive and steamship made great
strides in the area of public transportation. In the 18th century, coal
was the main source of fossil fuels; however, oil recovery started in
the latter half of the 19th century.
And in the 20th century, the world was changed dramatically
by oil. The raw materials from oil facilitated mass production of
industrial products, and the fuel from oil made mass transportation
of people and supplies possible. The electricity from burnt oil
brought electric appliances to our homes, and information and
communication services flourished.
The Magnesium Civilization: An Alternative New Source of Energy to Oil
By Takashi Yabe
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
www.panstanford.com
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
The Magnesium Civilization
We have been living in nothing but an oil civilization. We take for
granted a life relying on electric appliances or going out wherever
we want by car. However, such a blessed situation is merely a kind of
fluke that has lasted only for 200 years.
Will Oil Disappear, or Not?
Though nuclear energy has increased since the 1970s, it is not
mainstream because of the well-known radioactive waste problem.
The main energy sources in the 21st century are still coal and oil.
The three fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—make up nearly
90% of the world’s energy sources.
Can the fossil fuels coal and oil remain as sustainable energy
sources that we can count on?
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
Natural Energy and Hydrogen Society
Though different statistical data show different numbers, it is
reported that the reserve-to-production ratio (RPR) is approximately
150 years for coal, 60 years for natural gas, and 40 years for oil, the
shortest of all. One might wonder that several decades have already
passed since it was said that oil would disappear soon, but it didn’t
at all.
The reserves that are recoverable with the existing technology
are called “proven reserves.” The proven reserves divided by the
annual production is the RPR. The proven reserves and RPR can both
be increased by discovering new oil fields and coal mines or using
advanced extraction technologies that were unavailable in the past.
However, according to the majority of predictions, oil production
will reach its maximum by the year 2020, and after that it will
face a decrease (peak oil). Peak oil doesn’t immediately imply the
disappearance of oil, but it will be more difficult to expect oil with
low cost in a steady and stable supply, as in the current situation. On
the other hand, instead of decreasing, the demand for oil and coal
will increase more and more in the future.
Though it was delayed by the economic crisis of 2008, the annual
rate of economic growth for India and China will stay at around a
Copyright © 2011 by Pan Stanford Publishing Pte. Ltd.
