ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | OCTOBER 2024 7 to the company’s transformer oil containment services where larger volumes of oil spills will be examined. www.uwaterloo.ca. BETTER MEMBRANES RECOVER CRITICAL MATERIALS Membrane technology shows great promise for extracting critical materials such as lithium and cobalt from sources other than raw material mining. Featuring nanosized pores, membranes can be tuned to filter specific materials from water and other sources. Researchers from Yale University, New Haven, Conn., and MIT, Cambridge, Mass., are drawing inspiration from living organisms to outline a way to improve this technology. “There’s a recent movement in membrane science to design at a more precise level,” says researcher Camille Violet. For example, cobalt and nickel are next to each other on the periodic table. That makes it difficult for conventional membranes, which separate species based on differences in size or charge, to separate these nearly identical species. “Some of these really important metals that we need to separate only differ by one atomic number,” says Violet. To locate more of today’s valuable materials—beyond mining—scientists are turning to the untapped resources in waste streams. Electronic waste contains rare earth elements and precious metals while used lithium-ion batteries contain cobalt and lithium. One goal of the new research is to get membrane scientists to think more like biochemists. “If we look to the biological ion channel as a model, then we can start to mimic that design in membrane science,” says Violet. seas.yale.edu. Cobalt, nickel, manganese, and lithium are some of today’s most valuable materials. thermcraftinc.com • (336) 784-4800 Industrial& Laboratory Furnaces, Ovens& Heaters • Batch or Continuous Processing • Durable Construction • Standard or Fully Customizable • Up to 1800ºC, 3272ºF • Single or Multi-Zone • PLC Controls Available • Made in the USA Since 1971 thermcraftinc.com • (336) 784-4800 STAY AHEAD OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY WITH ASM EDUCATION & TRAINING. EARN CEUs, ENJOY DISCOUNTS, NETWORK, AND LEARN FROM INDUSTRY EXPERTS. SCAN TO ENROLL TODAY Education
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTYyMzk3NQ==