Qemetica becomes the third player in Europe and the second in North America in precipitated silica market

03-Dec-2024 - Qemetica has finalised the acquisition of the precipitated silica business from PPG for 1.2 billion zlotys (approximately $310 million) in one of the largest transactions ever carried out by a Polish company on the US market. Thus, Qemetica, the largest producer of, among other things, brewed ...

Solar cells from algae

Fossil diatoms could be used to produce silicon in the future

07-Oct-2024 - The HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen is researching the suitability of fossil algae as a raw material for solar cells in cooperation with the University of Oran in Algeria. These algae are found in so-called diatomaceous earth, also known as diatomite. ...

How can life emerge in a world of minerals?

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an ERC Synergy Grant to the project “The role of silica at the dawn of life on our planet” (PROTOS)

30-Oct-2023 - How did our planet become habitable? The first five hundred million years of planet Earth – the so-called Hadean – have been shrouded in mystery so far because there are no remains of rocks from those times. The discovery that the planet already had water then has opened up new perspectives on a ...

Nanoparticles drill holes at will in silicon

Industrially usable technique for producing porous silicon and glass opens up fresh perspectives for numerous applications

21-Feb-2023 - A Hamburg-based research team has developed a new method for producing a network of large to very fine pores in silicon and glass. At DESY’s X-ray source PETRA III, scientists led by DESY researchers Stella Gries and Patrick Huber were able to analyse the porosity using X-ray tomography. The ...

Particles from everyday wall paints can harm living organisms

Novel membrane shows high filtering effects

22-Aug-2022 - Dispersion paints are mostly used in households for painting walls and ceilings. An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Bayreuth has now analysed the chemical composition of two typical dispersion paints and discovered a large number of solid particles in them which are only a ...

Light-Controlled Reactions at the Nanoscale

Physicists used for the first time laser light to control the location of light-induced reactions on the surface of nanoparticles

23-May-2022 - Controlling strong electromagnetic fields on nanoparticles is the key to triggering targeted molecular reactions on their surfaces. Such control over strong fields is achieved via laser light. Although laser-induced formation and breaking of molecular bonds on nanoparticle surfaces have been ...

A sieve for molecules

“Materials like this with selective permeability are in high demand in industry”

09-Mar-2022 - Scientists have long tried to use graphene, which is composed of carbon, as a kind of sieve. But this material doesn’t have any pores. Now, a team has found an alternative material which comes with pores from the outset. Researchers from Bielefeld, Bochum and Yale have succeeded in producing a ...

"Magic" combination for more effective hydrogenations

The activity of this “magic” combination came as a real surprise

06-Jan-2022 - Hydrogen (H2) is the smallest chemical molecule and a beacon of hope for a more environmentally friendly energy transition in the coming years. In addition, it is already used in a variety of industrial processes - so-called hydrogenations - for the environmentally friendly production of chemical ...

Merck opens second production line for silica-based effect pigments in Gernsheim

Investment of nearly € 28 million in Gernsheim strengthens manufacturing site

22-Sep-2021 - Merck opens a second production line for silica-based effect pigments. Around 750 employees work at this site, which is home to Merck's largest pigment production facility worldwide. With this investment, Merck will significantly increase production capacities for silicon dioxide flakes, a ...

Chemist created a niobium-silica catalyst to boost petrochemical reactions

Catalyst reduces the time of alkylation reactions from several hours to just 10 minutes

08-Oct-2020 - Alkylation reactions are used in the petrochemical industry to obtain high-octane number components for gasolines. A chemist from RUDN University found a way to speed this process up to 24 times. To do so, he developed a catalyst based on silica and niobium. The results of his work were published ...