In fairy tales and movies, magic crystals have a long track record of saving the day with their supernatural powers. This usually happens at the very end of the tale, when things are coming to a head – and the world as it is will either go to ruin or just be saved in the nick of time. In the highly popular Marvel™ superhero features, there’s even a whole collection of mighty crystals, each with its own special shape, color and abilities.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were also a set of magic crystals for saving our environment? When reading the latest climate change scenarios, the situation can feel as dramatic as in those movies. Especially young people seem to think so and consider the state of affairs critical enough to skip school and organize climate rallies each Friday, demanding a solution.
As it happens, there actually are crystals that have such powers. They’re called zeolites, and they, too, come in many different shapes and compositions. Some of them have the ability to catch a harmful climate gas, hold on to it with their »magic« powers – and only release it after it’s been turned into clean air.
When found in nature, zeolites look like something you could instantly add to your collection of precious stones. Formed over long periods of time by reactions of water with volcanic rock, they occur in a wide variety of beautiful clear, white, pink and green crystals. What really makes them precious, however, is what they look like at the molecular level.
Zeolites consist mostly of elements very common on Earth – aluminum, silicon and oxygen – but combine them to form special and unique structures. As with all crystals, their molecules form a three-dimensional lattice, but one that is extremely regular and riddled with countless pores and channels of identical size. These micropores can trap the small molecules of gases and liquids while letting larger ones pass by, giving materials made from zeolites the ability to act as »molecular sieves«.
The moisture- and odor-absorbing pellets of cat litter often consist of zeolites, as do breathing filters in the tanks of scuba divers and firefighters. In many labs, zeolites are used to dry and purify solvents, trapping water molecules while leaving larger solvent molecules outside. Due to their ability to trap the calcium and magnesium ions that make water hard, they also find use in water filters and laundry detergents. In refinery and petrochemical areas, products made from zeolites can dramatically improve both the efficiency and carbon footprint of processes.
Some of these products are made by grinding up and treating the brittle zeolite crystals found in rocks, of which there are about 40 kinds, carrying such magical-sounding names as chabazite, mordenite and erionite. A great number of zeolites, however, are now produced synthetically. This is because it is then easier to control their purity and specific properties such as pore size, which determines what type of molecules they can catch.
Perhaps even more importantly, synthetically produced zeolites also allow new crystal structures not occurring in nature to be found, with potential to access innovative and exciting properties to improve our world. These properties give greater control over what happens to gas molecules once the zeolites have gotten hold of them, for example – which is very important for the magic they can work on the environment.
This magic relies on the power of zeolite crystals to not only serve as »molecular sieves« but also as catalysts. Catalysts are materials that bring about or speed up chemical reactions without being consumed in the process. As chance will have it, they are also one of Clariant’s favorite fields of research. Most solid catalysts consist of metals, and by sprinkling metal ions throughout the zeolite pores like fairy dust, their magic powers can be doubled. In addition to trapping harmful, climate-changing emissions, they can now transform them into something else.
If you drive a modern diesel car, you’ll perhaps be surprised to hear that Clariant’s magic zeolite crystals may well be part of your catalytic converter. Spread in a thin coat over its filters, they both trap hydrocarbons so they can be neutralized more effectively at a later stage and actively transform – or catalyze – nitrogen oxides into less problematic compounds.
The elements nitrogen and oxygen make up 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere, but when combined to nitrogen oxides (often abbreviated to NOx) they can harm both health and climate. One that can be a particular problem is nitrous oxide, known to chemists as N2O and to people with dental problems as laughing gas. Reflecting the planet’s heat like CO2 but staying in the atmosphere much longer, it has been calculated to be 300 times more harmful. In fact, alongside methane and CO2 it is one of the big three climate-changing gases emitted by humans.
Nitrogen oxides are not only emitted by cars but also by factories, such as those producing nitric acid, an important compound for making fertilizers and thus, ultimately, for feeding the world’s growing populations. The video on this page explains very nicely how EnviCat® N20, one of Clariant’s zeolite catalysts, is used to bind this underestimated climate gas and turn it into harmless oxygen, nitrogen and water. And this one shows how the magic ability of these crystals to sieve out and transform molecules is employed to clean up another mainstay of our economy: the manufacture of cement.
In fact, our collection of magic crystals is even larger than the one in the superhero movies (and, as we zeolite fans tend to think, also more beautiful). They all come with their own custom-fitted structures and specialties, and while they’re perhaps not quite as mighty as those in fairy tales, they have the advantage of offering a real solution.
One that Clariant is proud to provide to many customers around the world: for saving the climate in small, feasible steps – one molecule at a time.
Zeolite Catalyst Technology
Enables Cleaner Cement Production
Next-generation Catalysts for Purifying Exhaust Gas
Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world, but generates emissions from the clinker burning process. Thanks to the innovative zeolite catalyst technology from Clariant, the poisonous pollutants can now be purified almost completely and released into the environment.
Challenge
Cement Production Process Generates Harmful Emissions
Cement is the main component of concrete, which is the most widely used construction material in the world. But throughout the production process, a significant amount of harmful emissions are generated.
The pollutant emissions include fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and ammonia, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and sulfur oxides.
Solution
A Combined Catalytic Process From Clariant Can Reduce These Emissions by Up to 90 Percent and More
In the first stage nitrogen oxides and ammonia react on a catalytic layer, where they bind to the iron active centers. The molecules interact with each other forming water and harmless nitrogen. In the next stage remaining organic contaminants and carbon monoxide are eliminated by catalytic oxidation. For this Clariant has developed an innovative ceramic honeycomb catalyst with an activated zeolite-coated surface. The zeolite matrix provides durable protection against dust, sulfur oxides, and moisture which in conventional catalysts result in a fast deactivation. This key innovation enables the catalyst to survive under the harsh conditions of the process.
A Combined Catalytic Process From Clariant Can Reduce These Emissions by Up to 90 Percent and More
In the first stage nitrogen oxides and ammonia react on a catalytic layer, where they bind to the iron active centers. The molecules interact with each other forming water and harmless nitrogen. In the next stage remaining organic contaminants and carbon monoxide are eliminated by catalytic oxidation. For this Clariant has developed an innovative ceramic honeycomb catalyst with an activated zeolite-coated surface. The zeolite matrix provides durable protection against dust, sulfur oxides, and moisture which in conventional catalysts result in a fast deactivation. This key innovation enables the catalyst to survive under the harsh conditions of the process.
Benefits
Toxic Pollutants Can Be Purified Almost Completely
- PURIFICATION OF EMISSIONS - Zeolite technology reduces pollutants by 90% or more
- HIGH ACTIVITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF CATALYST - Enables combustion efficiency of the precious metal catalyst
- MEETING REGULATIONS - Required standards for hazardous air pollutants in cement plants can be met
EnviCat®N2O
Reducing Harmful Emissions
Contributing to Climate and Environmental Protection in Three Ways
By mitigating the greenhouse effect, helping to preserve the ozone layer, and reducing atmospheric pollution with other, health and climate damaging nitrogen oxides, the EnviCat® NOx process contributes to climate and environmental protection. The catalyst EnviCat®N2O is a central component of the innovative process.
Challenge
Reducing Harmful Emissions – the Catalyst Envicat N₂O and Envicat; NOx Remove Nitrous Oxide
The signs of climate change can no longer be ignored. While carbon dioxide is a major contributor to the greenhouse effect, nitrous oxide – commonly known as laughing gas – is the third most damaging climate gas after methane and is responsible for about 6% of anthropogenic climate effects. One unit of nitrous oxide is about 300 times more climate damaging than the same amount of CO2. Nitrous oxide results mainly from the industrial production of nitric acid used in fertilizer manufacture and other processes.
Reducing Harmful Emissions – the Catalyst Envicat N₂O and Envicat; NOx Remove Nitrous Oxide
The signs of climate change can no longer be ignored. While carbon dioxide is a major contributor to the greenhouse effect, nitrous oxide – commonly known as laughing gas – is the third most damaging climate gas after methane and is responsible for about 6% of anthropogenic climate effects. One unit of nitrous oxide is about 300 times more climate damaging than the same amount of CO2. Nitrous oxide results mainly from the industrial production of nitric acid used in fertilizer manufacture and other processes.
Solution
An Innovative Catalyst in an Ingenious Process
The Clariant catalyst EnviCat® N2O used in the EnviCat® NOx process, developed by ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH, removes nearly all of the nitrous oxide from the tail gas of nitric acid plants and converts it in two stages to the harmless substances oxygen, nitrogen and water. At the heart of the process is the highly active catalyst EnviCat® N2O consisting of porous, crystalline zeolites.
Benefits
Meeting Legal Restrictions Without Impacting the Manufacturing Process
- MEETING REGULATIONS - for the strict limits on nitrous oxide gas emissions
- 12 MILLION TONS CO2 - Every year, the EnviCat® NOx process purifies nitrous oxide emissions equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions of four million cars per year
- PURIFICATION OF TAIL GAS - Solutions available that can be installed without modifying the process cycle
Advertisement
The 10 largest coal producers and exporters in Indonesia:
- Bumi Resouces
- Adaro Energy
- Indo Tambangraya Megah
- Bukit Asam
- Baramulti Sukses Sarana
- Harum Energy
- Mitrabara Adiperdana
- Samindo Resources
- United Tractors
- Berau Coal
