🏭 The Column: December 19, 2025

Good morning. Today we’re talking about valorizing the magnesium found in brine under Arkansas, and valorizing the lithium found in oilfield brine in the Permian. Brines are where it’s at, apparently.

Magrathea is putting capital to work

Up until the late 1990s, the US was the world’s leading producer of magnesium thanks to Dow Chemical, who had pioneered an electrochemical process to extract it from seawater. The tide shifted at the turn of the millennium when China began commercializing the Pidgeon process—a method that crushes dolomite and ferrosilicon, throws them into coal-fired furnaces, and distills magnesium metal off as a vapor. Now, two decades later, China produces over 90% of the world’s magnesium, while the US produces none (literally zero, we just closed the last magneisum plant). This is a big deal. Even if magnesium never becomes a sustainable, lightweight “Aluminum 2.0,” it is already essential for aluminum alloy, titanium sponge, and high-quality steel production—all of which are inputs used to produce aircraft, ships, and missiles. That’s why the US Department of War handed Magrathea $19.6m a few years ago: the bet is that an optimized version of Dow’s electrochemical process can be re-commercialized domestically. (Of course, we could just stand up Pidgeon-based plants, but maybe those are best kept in regions where coal, labor, and environmental externalities are cheap.) Anyways, the exciting news I have for you today is that Magrathea plans to build its first commercial-scale site using tail brine from the Smackover Formation in Arkansas, and they will do this in partnership with Tetra Technologies. [LINK]

LibertyStream wants dirty oilfield water

“Oilfield brine” is a relatively new concept to me. I didn’t know that for every barrel of oil produced from fracked Permian shale in West Texas, at least four barrels of water come up with it. That’s a lot of water. Wouldn’t it be nice if that water came up crystal clear and free of impurities? Suddenly oil production would have an undeniably positive externality (in this case: converting Texas desert into an oasis). Unfortunately that’s not reality—this water is extremely salty, contains dissolved hydrocarbons, metals (including lithium), radioisotopes, and trace oilfield fracking chemicals. It needs to be cleaned up before it can be used or re-injected deep underground (via salt water disposals). Much of this water treatment infrastructure exists in the Permian simply out of necessity, and because the demand for lithium-ion batteries is booming (primarily driven by electric vehicle demand), some folks are looking to strap direct lithium extraction (DLE) units onto these water treatment facilities. Of course, the price of lithium is wildly variable, as is the lithium concentration in these oilfield brines, but that hasn’t stopped LibertyStream from taking a stab at the opportunity. They just announced that they commissioned a unit capable of processing 10,000 barrels of brine per day into a lithium chloride eluate. They’ll need to convert that to lithium carbonate or hydroxide to sell it, but at the very least this is a great example of a company trying to valorize a waste stream, which is basically the mantra for all ChemEs. [LINK]

Other Things Happened:

ExxonMobil and BASF are teaming up on methane pyrolysis. UPM is launching a bio-based pigment as an alternative to carbon black. LanzaJet successfully produced jet fuel from ethanol at their site in Georgia. Air Liquide started up an ammonia-cracking pilot plant. Ineos is investing in their cracker site in France. Novonesis and Thyssenkrupp Uhde are trying to commercialize a new fat-splitting enzyme for fatty acid producers. Ford Motors and SK On have decided to end their joint venture, which had plans to build battery factories in Kentucky and Tennessee. Ascend has decided on a new CEO and is set to emerge from bankruptcy soon. ADNOC completed its acquisition of Covestro. Cargill sold its chlor-alkali plant in Eddyville, Iowa. Japan’s Asahi Kasei has decided to wind down its HMD production. AkzoNobel and Axalta are merging to create an even more enormous coatings company. Hexion sold its US Gulf Coast formalin business to Ancala. Stepan sold its plant in Lake Providence, Louisiana. Kazakhstan (number one exporter of potassium) is about to get its first urea plant. BASF expanded its production of alkyl polyglucosides in Thailand.