According to researchers from Queen's University Belfast, about 20,000 tons of aluminum foil is discarded each year in the United Kingdom. This prompted chemistry researcher Ahmed Osman to find new ways to reuse these wasted aluminum foil. Osman collaborated with the school's engineers to come up with a way to convert the used tin foil into a biofuel catalyst that would not only be more environmentally friendly but also more cost-effective.

The difficulty in recycling aluminum comes mainly from how we use it for the first time. Although aluminum cans can be brought to the processing plant for cleaning and reprocessing, aluminum foil, which is often used in kitchens for cooking and food, is often accompanied by grease, which can damage the factory's recycling equipment. Therefore, most of the tin foil is poured into landfills or incinerated.

Therefore, for Osman, their focus is on developing cheaper and simpler ways to produce biofuels, and tin foil can be the perfect material. After finishing some aluminum foil in the university's architectural laboratory, he began to study a new type of crystallization method, trying to turn it into something useful. This new technique involves dissolving the foil in an acidic solution and placing it in it until a single crystal is formed. It is then converted into 100% pure aluminum salt single crystals using ammonia precipitation, which the team says does not produce emissions or waste.

These aluminum salts can be used as an alumina catalyst and can subsequently be used to produce dimethyl ether, a non-corrosive, non-toxic biofuel. At present, the production of alumina catalysts requires the mining of bauxite in places such as West Africa and Australia, resulting in the destruction of the ecological environment.

Osman came up with a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach. The average cost of commercial alumina catalysts is approximately $400 per kilogram. He said that using 265 grams of aluminum foil can produce one kilogram of catalyst at a cost of only $156. Osman hopes to continue to improve the production of these catalysts and to study how the biofuel production process can be commercialized.

The research results were published in Nature's journal Scientific Reports.

INCONEL®

Yuhong Group supplies Inconel® alloys C-276, HX, 22, 600, 601, 625 & 718 in the form of Plate, Sheet, Bar, Wire, Pipe, Tubing, Pipe Fittings, Flanges and Electrode.

The registered trademark name, Inconel, is applied as the prefix name to more than twenty different highly corrosion resistant high temperature strength metal alloys produced by Special Metals Corporation. These Inconel alloys or superalloys are nickel-based alloys that exhibit traits such as high resistance to corrosion, oxidation, carburization, pitting, crevice, corrosion cracking, and high temperature strength. Often, Inconel is referred to as [Inco".

Alloys of identical chemical and mechanical properties are available from other manufacturers and offer excellent alternativesto the various Inconel® brand alloys.

The corrosion-resistant superalloys are widely used in extreme environments where tremendous heat and corrosion resistance is paramount to the integrity of the end product. Chemical processing, nuclear, petrochemical, aerospace and marine industries widely use these superalloys.

What are the Characteristics of Inconel ?

Good resistance to acids, such as sulfuric, phosphoric, nitric, and hydrochloric
Almost completely free from chloride induced stress corrosion cracking
Excellent mechanical properties at both extremely low and extremely high temperatures
Outstanding resistance to pitting, crevice corrosion and intercrystalline corrosion
High resistance to oxidation at elevated temperatures

In what Applications are Inconel alloys used ?

Chemical and petrochemical processing
Components where exposure to high mechanical stress and sea water are required
Flare stacks on offshore oil platforms
Gas turbines, rocket motors/engines, and space craft
Pollution control equipment
Nuclear reactors