$2 billion market in nanopore

The current market for such nanoporous and microporous adsorbents is $1.77 billion and is expected to rise to $2.12 billion by 2012, noted technical market research firm Business Communications Company in Norwalk, Conn.

"The market for these nanoporous adsorbents will grow much more rapidly in dollar value than the microporous adsorbents," said Ravindra Deshpande, a market-research analyst in Harrisburg, Pa.

Adsorbents stick to any number of chemicals.They find use in everything from pet litter, where they soak up odors, to environmental remediates, where they help draw out toxins.The greater the surface area they have, the more molecules they can stick to.As the size of the pores on an adsorbent decreases, it offers more surface area per unit volume of the product.

"We have several thousand meters square per gram.Imagine five football fields in one gram of material," said Doug Smith, president of nanoporous adsorbent manufacturing company NanoPore in Albuquerque, N.M.

NanoPore has developed nanoporous adsorbents that soak up air and thus act highly effectively as thermal insulation."We'll have nanoporous insulation winging up in the space shuttle," Smith said."People like Boeing and General Electric are our customers."

The real value of nanoporous adsorbents is how they enable whole new classes of products, Deshpande explained."One emerging technology is hydrogen storage for vehicles powered by hydrogen gas," he said."What these tanks have are adsorbents in them that hydrogen sticks to, so you could store more hydrogen per given unit weight.So nanoporous adsorbents are an enabling technology for some of the really major upcoming things."NanoPore has also developed a novel cooler that sucks out heat by evaporating water from nanoporous adsorbents."You get cooling on demand, seven times the cooling power of ice, with low weight and cost, for shipping drugs around, for instance," Smith said.

The biggest market for nanoporous adsorbents, Deshpande said, is in the petroleum and gas refining markets, where nanoporous adsorbents get metal stuck on them to become highly effective high surface area catalysts."Growth fields should include biological processing.There, they're an enabling technology that allow you to separate out complex fluids, to carry out complex catalytic reactions," he explained.

When it comes to fears of whether safety or environmental regulations might affect nanotechnology, "from the safety side, the big issues are whether nanosized particles can penetrate into the body.With our nanoporous adsorbents, the pores are very small but they're on objects you can see.So nobody's talking health effects there," Smith said.

"As far EPA rules, they'll help drive our business," he added."The more companies have to keep themselves clean, the more they'll use nanoporous adsorbents."

Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

New, nanoporous ceramic filter offers hope to kidney-dialysis patients
If you are one of the 370,000 Americans who lack functioning kidneys, you are all too familiar with the exhausting procedure of kidney dialysis. Three or four times every week, you visit a special clinic and sit for four hours as your blood is removed, cleaned and returned to your body.
Protective garment
Military personnel, chemical workers, and others could benefit from a new synthetic rubber material tailored with liquid crystals. The material might be used to make body suits to protect chemical-industry employees from skin exposure to toxic vapors and aerosols, as well as providing protection for military personnel and civilians in the event of a chemical-weapons attack. The new composite is lightweight and breathable, but still blocks the passage of toxic chemicals, reducing the risk of heat exhaustion in anyone wearing it.
Are Advancements Robust Enough to Deliver on Hydrogen's Immense Potential?
The need for 'green' power and fuel efficiency is motivating the energy community to investigate hydrogen as a compelling alternative fuel. While hydrogen continues to pose significant challenges in terms of commercial production, storage and transportation, the market is rapidly evolving with diverse production and storage technologies, which are at different stages of commercial development.

Evidence of a Bose glass state?
"In nano-sized systems many physical properties are greatly altered from those of macroscopic-sized systems. Therefore, study of nano-sized systems, in general, is very important in developing fundamental physics," Keiya Shirahama tells PhysOrg.com via email.
Making a good impression: Nanoimprint lithography tests at NIST
In what should be good news for integrated circuit manufacturers, recent studies by the National Institute of Standards and Technology have helped resolve two important questions about an emerging microcircuit manufacturing technology called nanoimprint lithography—yes, it can accurately stamp delicate insulating structures on advanced microchips, and, no, it doesn’t damage them, in fact it makes them better.
Researchers developing system to efficiently convert biomass to ethanol
Iowa State University researchers are developing an integrated system of thermochemical and catalytic technologies to efficiently produce ethanol from plant biomass.
Eco-Friendly Pyrotechnics
You know it is chemistry when it stinks and goes boom—and entrances us. “No other application in the field of chemistry has such a positive association for the general population as fireworks,” says Thomas Klapötke (University of Munich, Germany).
Mixed results: Combining scaffold ingredients yields surprising nanoporous structure
With a novel twist on existing techniques used to create porous crystals, University of Michigan researchers have developed a new, high-capacity material that may be useful in storing hydrogen, methane and carbon dioxide.

$2 billion market in nanopore

Related stories:

News discussion: