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Clean Magnesium Energy Cycle Hints at Fossil Fuel Freedom

An experiment being performed at the Hokkaido Toyako G8 summit in Chitose, Japan, aims to prove that the revolutionary Magnesium Energy Cycle could one day free society from dependence on fossil fuels. The demonstration conducted by Tokyo Institute of Technology Professor Takashi Yabe uses water and the common metallic element Magnesium to create pollution-free power.

What's more, solar-powered lasers are used to renew the magnesium fuel with the only waste product being oxygen. Professor Yabe's team at TIT has been steadily testing the technology for several years now, and the pilot plant at Chitose is intended to showcase the environmentally-friendly fuel cycle to an influential audience at the G8 environmental summit.

Magnesium: OPEC's worst nightmare?Magnesium: OPEC's worst nightmare?

The cycle is relatively simple: magnesium powder is mixed with water (H2O) at room temperature, upon which a chemical reaction occurs bonding the magnesium with the oxygen and creating heat energy. What's left is hydrogen, which is collected and burned to produce more heat with water as its byproduct.

The cycle renews itself by applying solar-powered lasers to break the oxidized magnesium back down to metallic magnesium and oxygen. The only energy used is sunlight while the waste products are oxygen, hydrogen and water. As for magnesium , it's hardly rare - the light, shiny metal is the ninth-most common element in the universe, makes up 2 percent of the earth's crust and is the third-most common element dissolved in seawater.

Works like MAGIC!Works like MAGIC! A so-called "MAGIC " (MAGnesium Injection Cycle) engine was constructed in 2006 by Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. using Professor Yabe's ideas, and this engine could be introduced for commercial use in power plants, ships, even cars before the end of this decade!



We wish Professor Yabe and his team the best of luck in perfecting this revolutionary technology. To quote the professor, "Magnesium can save the world!" (via Mainichi News)

Steve Levenstein
Japanese Innovations Writer

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