If HDR makes your eyes bleed look away now!
Just incase you've been under a rock the last couple of years:
The basic idea of extracting magnesia from the sea originated in California U.S.A where by 1935 a limited output of pharmaceutical quality magnesia was being provided using oyster shells and seawater.
Steetley’s research and development work to extract magnesia from sea water, by reacting it with dolomite instead of oyster shells, commenced in 1936 using a bath tub for a settling tank and a two meter long steel tube as a kiln. In 1937 a full scale plant was built having a nominal capacity of 10 000 tonnes a year. It was becoming apparent that natural magnesite imports, mainly from Austria, were likely to be curtailed with the growing unrest in Europe.
Hartlepool was selected as the site for the factory because of its location close to the high purity dolomite deposits at Coxhoe and the fact that the seawater was of consistent quality and free from dilution by fresh river water. It was also near the Durham coalfield which provided the fuel for the kilns.
Refractory grade magnesia is used in the manufacture of refractory bricks, tiles and gunning materials for application in steel, cement and non-ferrous industries. Chemical grade magnesia is used in the manufacture of rubber, plastics, leather, oil, paper pulp and fertilisers.
These were taken Jan last year, theres been alot changed since then. Demo has started, pikeys have nearly blow themselves up there by digging through a gas pipe with a JCB, some old person found a very valuable glass bottle.....its all going on at Steetley! For myself its just been a constant location for hassle free (well, I say hassle free, the chavs are often quite annoying especially when wielding an angle grinder...) photography.
Just incase you've been under a rock the last couple of years:
The basic idea of extracting magnesia from the sea originated in California U.S.A where by 1935 a limited output of pharmaceutical quality magnesia was being provided using oyster shells and seawater.
Steetley’s research and development work to extract magnesia from sea water, by reacting it with dolomite instead of oyster shells, commenced in 1936 using a bath tub for a settling tank and a two meter long steel tube as a kiln. In 1937 a full scale plant was built having a nominal capacity of 10 000 tonnes a year. It was becoming apparent that natural magnesite imports, mainly from Austria, were likely to be curtailed with the growing unrest in Europe.
Hartlepool was selected as the site for the factory because of its location close to the high purity dolomite deposits at Coxhoe and the fact that the seawater was of consistent quality and free from dilution by fresh river water. It was also near the Durham coalfield which provided the fuel for the kilns.
Refractory grade magnesia is used in the manufacture of refractory bricks, tiles and gunning materials for application in steel, cement and non-ferrous industries. Chemical grade magnesia is used in the manufacture of rubber, plastics, leather, oil, paper pulp and fertilisers.
These were taken Jan last year, theres been alot changed since then. Demo has started, pikeys have nearly blow themselves up there by digging through a gas pipe with a JCB, some old person found a very valuable glass bottle.....its all going on at Steetley! For myself its just been a constant location for hassle free (well, I say hassle free, the chavs are often quite annoying especially when wielding an angle grinder...) photography.
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