mechanical / materials WINNERS
5-tonne per day (TPD) CO2 Capture from Blast Furnace Gas Tata Steel Ltd. To decarbonize the steel industry globally and in a growing country such as India, an economical solution for capturing and using CO2 at scale is essential. The collaborative approach of Tata Steel and Carbon Clean enabled co-development and installation of a first-of-its-kind plant for CO2 capture from blast furnace gas. This process generates the highest purity CO2 (>99% purity) at lesser OPEX which can be converted into value-added products, such as methanol and mineral carbonates. Captured CO2 is used for in-house wastewater treatment to promote a circular carbon economy.
80° F Thermostatic Microcapsules Ultra-fine Fiber Leather Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) Researchers at TTRI have developed temperature-regulated leather material by combining two waterbased elements: microcapsule technique and water-based long-fiber foundation fabric. The former can regulate temperature by keeping or releasing heat to maintain an ideal skin temperature of 80° F (27° C) on average; the latter can provide softness and sturdiness to the leather material. The manufacturing process is zero-VOC, specially designed for products with prolonged skin contact. This material has a wide range of application potential for household, automotive, and headphone products.
Acousweep The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel Ltd. (HKRITA) Microplastic pollution threatens marine ecosystems and human health. Despite existing filter systems, their processing generates other environmental issues: the use of plastic materials to produce membrane filters, filter disposal, energy consumption in filtration system suspension and restarting, and the release of chemicals into the water. Acousweep aims to develop a new approach to improve the existing filter system. Sweeping acoustic waves to separate microplastic in water is innovative and sustainable, considering both separation effectiveness and environmental performance. The integrated system with a specially designed separation chamber to handle 100 L of water can tackle microplastic pollution.
A Continuous Hot-Roll Process to Manufacture Nanograin Neo Magnet Oak Ridge National Laboratory Powerful Nd-Fe-B-based magnets are essential for wind turbines and EV applications. These magnets require additions of the critical element Dy to function at elevated temperatures. Though nanograin Nd-Fe-B magnets may function the same as Nd-FeB-Dy magnets, the current manufacturing process for nanograin Nd-Fe-B magnets is too expensive to be widely used. ORNL’s novel hot-roll process addresses the shortcomings in nanograin magnet production by implementing the deformable die concept. This simplifies the traditional hot-press densification and hot-deformation texture development process into one continuous process. It also eliminates the need for expensive tools and furnaces and dramatically improves productivity.
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R&D WORLD | FALL 2023
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