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AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorsAlexander G. Anshits, Olga M. Sharonova, Tatiana A. Vereshchagina, Irina D. Zykova, Yurii A. Revenko, Alexander A. Tretyakov, Albert S. Aloy, Rem I. Lubtsev, Dieter A. Knecht, Troy J. Tranter, Yevgeny Macheret
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An open-cell glass crystalline porous material made from hollow microspheres which are cenospheres obtained from fly ash, having an open-cell porosity of up to 90 vol. % is produced. The cenospheres are separated into fractions based on one or more of grain size, density, magnetic or non-magnetic, and perforated or non-perforated. Selected fractions are molded and agglomerated by sintering with a binder at a temperature below the softening temperature, or without a binder at a temperature about, or above, the softening temperature but below the temperature of liquidity. The porous material produced has an apparent density of 0.3-0.6 g/cm3, a compressive strength in the range of 1.2-3.5 MPa, and two types of openings: through-flow wall pores in the cenospheres of 0.1-30 micrometers, and interglobular voids between the cenospheres of 20-100 micrometers. The porous material of the invention has properties useful as porous matrices for immobilization of liquid radioactive waste, heat-resistant traps and filters, supports for catalysts, adsorbents and ion-exchangers.
A method of making an open-cell glass crystalline porous material containing cenospheres obtained from fly ash, said porous material having an open-cell porosity of about 40 vol. % up to about 90 vol. %, said method comprising separating said cenospheres, molding a selected fraction of said separated cenospheres, and agglomerating said cenospheres under sintering conditions, said sintering conditions including isothermal holding of said cenospheres in an air atmosphere at a temperature above 800° C. but below the temperature of liquidity of said cenospheres.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.