About Me: Hello, my name is Demetrios Kennedy and I am a WPI graduate from graduating class of 2025. While at WPI, I was a member of the Teacher Preparation Program while also being the Vice President of the Inspiring and Developing Educators Association.
About the Lab: The Energy Metals Research Group is the lab Jared and I are working with this summer. This group hosts a large amount of projects ranging from magnesium production and recycling (our group’s project) to other projects such as and . For our project, the research we are working on the the production and recycling of magnesium through two processes: electrolysis and distillation. For electrolysis, we are working with the lab to combine magnesium and tin in order to create an alloy that we can then separate further down the experiment chain while also separating magnesium from oxygen. For the distillation procedure, we are melting the tin and magnesium and then boiling the mixture to separate the magnesium from the tin. This is so we can record and recover the magnesium gained from the entire experiment.
The lab itself has a vision statement found here which states “The Energy Metals Research Group (EMRG) will serve society as a leader in practical applications for electrochemical technologies; pioneer in enhanced transportation systems and industrial safety; catalyst for reduced manufacturing waste and energy consumption; and key player in attaining a world with open international collaboration; 100% reliance on clean energy, expanded economic prosperity, healthier environment, and improved quality of life.”
Magnesium Production and Recycling for Clean Energy
Weekly Updates
Week 1
As mentioned above, the entire experiment follows a 2 step process of electrolysis and distillation. The first step is electrolysis, however due to schedule changes in the group, we are starting to learn about the distillation step first. This part of the experiment involves loading a crucible and a distiller piece into a heating apparatus along with evacuating oxygen to create a vacuum.
Below is a picture of how it looked on July 1st, 2025
The apparatus is placed into a hole in a table and is contained within an insulating device to control heat loss. In order to create a vacuum, two tubes are connected to the apparatus. The tube on the left is connected to an argon tank and the tube on the right is a tube made for oxygen. Once the experiment is ready to run, the argon tank is turned on so argon can flow into the apparatus and force the oxygen out the other tube. The oxygen leaving the apparatus reduces the internal pressure which then causes the boiling temperature of the mixture inside to decrease.
Jared and I entered the lab in the middle of Daniel’s (The graduate student we are working with) current experiment which is trying to recover leftover magnesium from the crucible, which depending on the results will determine the next steps for the next couple of weeks. If Daniel is able to recover magnesium from the experiment, then we can continue on as originally planned. If Daniel is not able to recover magnesium, then this would mean the metal oxidized with the stainless steel walls of the container and a new container would have to be purchased.
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Final Poster:
Lesson Plan: