Document Actions
DoE's Savannah River Lab Explores 'Microballoon'
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Lab (Westerville, Ohio) have developed porous glass ‘microballoons’ that can be affixed with nanoscale pores to provide a number of intriguing possibilities for carrying volatile materials across long distances safely.
The work, dubbed Porous Wall-Hollow Glass Microspheres (PW-HGM), is capturing the attention of environmentalists looking for ways to abate global warming, national security and transportation experts and even engineers at Toyota for safe hydrogen storage for vehicles. The PW-HGMs' interconnected porosity is the key, according to a recent article on the technology which appears in the June American Ceramic Society Bulletin.
The ACSB article says in part: "The team at SRNL has used this porosity to fill the microballons with special gas absorbents. There are a number of remarkable advantages to producing new classes of absorbent-glass microsphere systems such as these. For example, by incorporating or growing absorbents inside the microspheres, investigators can produce a protective environment or cocoon. This could be especially important for reactive or flammable absorbents or stored materials, including solids, liquids or gases, and has the potential of improving subsequent safety for handling, storing or transporting materials of this type."
Another feature of the microballoons is that their mechanical properties can be altered so they can be made to flow like a liquid. This suggests that an existing infrastructure that currently transports, stores and distributes liquids such as the existing gasoline distribution and retail network can be used. This property and their relative strength also make the PW-HGMs suitable for reuse and recycling.
The SRNL team is involved in more than a half dozen programs and collaborations involving the PW-HGMs in areas such as hydrogen storage in vehicles (Toyota), gas purification and separations, and even very diverse applications including abatement of global warming effects, improving lead-acid battery performance and nuclear non-proliferation. Applications such as the development of new drug delivery systems and MRI contrast agents are also blossoming in the medical field (Medical College of Georgia). Work was conducted by SRNL Researchers G.G. Wicks, L.K. Heung, and R.F. Schumacher.
Read more in American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 87, No. 6
The ACSB article says in part: "The team at SRNL has used this porosity to fill the microballons with special gas absorbents. There are a number of remarkable advantages to producing new classes of absorbent-glass microsphere systems such as these. For example, by incorporating or growing absorbents inside the microspheres, investigators can produce a protective environment or cocoon. This could be especially important for reactive or flammable absorbents or stored materials, including solids, liquids or gases, and has the potential of improving subsequent safety for handling, storing or transporting materials of this type."
Another feature of the microballoons is that their mechanical properties can be altered so they can be made to flow like a liquid. This suggests that an existing infrastructure that currently transports, stores and distributes liquids such as the existing gasoline distribution and retail network can be used. This property and their relative strength also make the PW-HGMs suitable for reuse and recycling.
The SRNL team is involved in more than a half dozen programs and collaborations involving the PW-HGMs in areas such as hydrogen storage in vehicles (Toyota), gas purification and separations, and even very diverse applications including abatement of global warming effects, improving lead-acid battery performance and nuclear non-proliferation. Applications such as the development of new drug delivery systems and MRI contrast agents are also blossoming in the medical field (Medical College of Georgia). Work was conducted by SRNL Researchers G.G. Wicks, L.K. Heung, and R.F. Schumacher.
Read more in American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 87, No. 6