Nano technology makes attapulgite worth hundreds of times

Sterilization, deodorization, adsorption of metal ions, food and cosmetics as gel. Attapulgite is a mineral with a low reputation but a wide range of uses. In Xuyi county, Jiangsu Province, the reserves of attapulgite account for 48% of the total proven reserves in the world. The mining price is 200 yuan / ton. After nanotechnology treatment and product upgrading, the highest price of finished products is about 800000 yuan / ton. With a wave of the "magic wand" of science and technology, the value of stone is multiplied by hundreds.

Attapulgite is characterized by its strong adsorption capacity Wang Aiqin, director of Xuyi attapulgite application technology R & D and Industrialization Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences, told reporters that attapulgite is a kind of hydrous magnesium rich aluminosilicate mineral with rod-shaped crystal structure. Due to its multi-channel internal structure and strong adsorption capacity, attapulgite is widely used in chemical industry, building materials, papermaking, medicine, agriculture, environmental protection, food and other fields.

Since the discovery of mineral resources in Jiangsu Province in the late 1970s, attapulgite has rapidly entered the industrial production and processing period. However, until 2010, it has been faced with the problems of low added value and short industrial chain. The total output value of attapulgite in Xuyi county is less than 400 million yuan.

"The average price per ton of product was more than 1000 yuan at that time." Wang Aiqin said that the reasons are: first, there is no breakthrough in the key common technologies restricting the industrial development; second, there is a lack of technical support from the attapulgite innovation research and development team; third, the lack of public testing and service platform.

Rich attapulgite resources do not want to be "sold at a low price", but how to use them with high value? In June 2010, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xuyi county government jointly built the attapulgite application technology R & D and Industrialization Center, and successively introduced Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo Institute of material technology and engineering of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Guangzhou Energy Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences, forming a new innovative development pattern of industry research integration.

Wang Aiqin introduced that most of the natural attapulgite rod crystals gather in the shape of bird's nest or woodpile, which does not have the characteristics of nano materials. For many years, researchers at home and abroad have studied the dissociation of attapulgite rod crystal bundle by traditional treatment methods such as high-speed stirring, ultrasound, roller, grinding and freezing, but only partial dissociation can be achieved, which will affect the application of attapulgite nano properties.

After five years of research, researchers have developed an integrated process of roller treatment, pulping and purification, high pressure homogenization and ethanol exchange, which has successfully realized the efficient dissociation of rod crystal bundles. Zheng Maosong, deputy director of Xuyi attapulgite application technology R & D and Industrialization Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that this marks a breakthrough in the key common problems restricting the development of the industry for many years, and realized the gorgeous turn of attapulgite from mineral materials to nano materials.

On this basis, the center has developed high value products such as attapulgite nano inorganic gel, attapulgite oil high efficiency decolorant, attapulgite catalytic material, attapulgite insulation medium slurry and so on, and has successfully realized industrial application.

Zheng Maosong, for example, said that for a long time, the harm of various mycotoxins has plagued the development of animal husbandry and harmed human health. The center creatively developed attapulgite zearalenone adsorbent and realized industrialization. The project was approved as a major achievement transformation project of Jiangsu Provincial Science and technology department in 2016, which filled the gap of independent research and production of high-end mycotoxin adsorbent in China, and broke the technology and market monopoly of foreign products in this field.

"At present, the average price of attapulgite products in Xuyi is more than 4000 yuan per ton, and the highest price of insulating materials can reach 800000 yuan per ton." Wang Aiqin said.

It is reported that the Nanjing Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences summed up the "Xuyi mode" of the cooperation between the academy and the local government, such as "the government's strong support, focusing on the characteristic industries; building an innovation platform, introducing resources as needed; breaking through the industrial bottleneck and boosting the transformation and upgrading". Through the construction of platform, breakthrough technology and service industry, the output value of attapulgite in Xuyi has increased from less than 400 million yuan in 2010 to 2 billion yuan in 2016.