Production of magnesium

A method of producing magnesium, comprising:

• combining a magnesium-containing solution and a hydroxide solution in a reaction vessel, the reaction vessel comprising:
• an outer cylinder, and
• an inner cylinder within the outer cylinder and separated from the outer cylinder by a gap,
• wherein the magnesium-containing solution and the hydroxide solution are combined within the gap to form a working solution;
• rotating the inner cylinder at a first angular velocity to produce a laminar Couette flow;
• rotating the inner cylinder at a second angular velocity, wherein the second angular velocity is greater than the first angular velocity, to produce a Taylor vortex flow;
• thereby precipitating magnesium hydroxide from the working solution;
• dewatering the magnesium hydroxide from the working solution to yield a magnesium hydroxide cake;
• combining the magnesium hydroxide cake with aqueous hydrochloric acid to yield a magnesium chloride solution;
• drying the magnesium chloride solution to yield solid magnesium chloride;
• subjecting the solid magnesium chloride to an electrolysis process to yield elemental magnesium;
• and
• collecting the elemental magnesium.

A method of producing magnesium, comprising:

• combining a magnesium-containing solution and a hydroxide solution in a reaction vessel,
• wherein the magnesium-containing solution and the hydroxide solution are combined to form a working solution,
• wherein the reaction vessel generates a controlled hydrodynamic shear field, a controlled mixing regime, or a combination thereof,
• thereby precipitating magnesium from the working solution.