ThioTech - sulfur containing materials to capture hazardous waste and precious metals

环境污染物是人类健康的最大风险之一，因此，必须控制和防止污染物的排放，在已经发生排放的情况下，应采用补救方法隔离有害物质，使该地区安全。针对工业中使用和产生的剧毒物质，一家新成立的大学衍生公司ThioTech开发了一系列有前途的含硫吸附剂，可用于采矿、石油和天然气、废物处理和电力行业。由于高硫含量，高比表面积（每克材料超过2000平方米的表面）和特殊的化学键，ThioTech材料对重金属和贵金属（如汞和金）具有很高的亲和力。首先，汞污染是一个紧迫的全球健康问题。128个国家签署了减少汞排放的联合协定（《水俣公约》），对工业的限制越来越严格，需要更有效的材料来吸附汞。其次，黄金、铂和钯等贵金属的开采使用化学物质溶解矿石中的金属，并将其以水溶液的形式泵回地表。然后，金被吸附在活性炭（多孔木炭）等吸附材料上。汞和氰化物是金矿工业中最常见的金浸出剂，因此需要一种无毒环保的金浸出剂。问题是没有可行的吸附材料从更安全的金浸出剂中回收金。因此，得益于特殊的化学结构，ThioTech材料有望成为解决这两个挑战的有希望的方法。通过创新到大学研究商业化（ICURe）计划对ThioTech材料潜力的市场研究进行了调查，该计划得到了innovate UK的支持，并显示了建立一家衍生公司的高度可行性。下一阶段，ThioTech将专注于材料的规模化开发和初步商业化。新公司将设在利物浦，并与其他英国公司在技术开发、材料制造和验证研究方面进行合作。ThioTech吸附剂有潜力成为英国工业的进口替代品，并允许出口到海外市场，从而刺激上游和下游工业的经济增长。因此，从经济和公共卫生两方面来看，“创新英国”的支持对纳税人来说都是物有所值的。

Environmental pollutants are one of the largest risks to human health, therefore, the release of contaminants must be controlled and prevented and, where release has already occurred, remediation methods should be used to isolate the harmful substance and make the area safe. Aimed at the highly toxic substances used and generated in industry, ThioTech, a new university spin out company, has developed a series of promising sulfur containing sorbents, which can be applied in the mining, oil & gas, waste service, and power industries. Because of the high sulfur content, the high specific surface area (over two thousand square metres of surface per gram of material), and special chemical bonds, ThioTech materials have a high affinity for heavy metals and precious metals, such as mercury and gold.First of all, mercury pollution is an urgent global health concern. 128 countries signed a joint agreement to reduce mercury emissions (Minamata Convention), causing tightening restrictions on industry, and a need for more effective materials to adsorb mercury. Secondly, the mining of precious metals such as gold, platinum, and palladium uses chemicals to dissolve the metals in ores and pump them back to the surface as an aqueous solution. The gold is then captured onto adsorbent materials like activated carbon (porous charcoal). Mercury and cyanide are the most common gold leaching reagents in the gold mining industry, therefore, a non-toxic and environmentally friendly gold leaching agent is needed. The problem is there is no viable sorbent material to retrieve gold from the safer alternative gold leaching agents. Therefore, benefiting from the special chemical structure, ThioTech materials are anticipated as a promising approach to solve these two challenges.Market research of the potential of ThioTech materials was investigated through the Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) programme, supported by Innovated UK, and showed high feasibility for establishment of a spin-out company. In the next stage, ThioTech will focus on materials scale-up development and primary commercialisation. The new company will be based in Liverpool, and collaborate with other British companies in technology development, material manufacturing, and validation study. ThioTech sorbent has potential as an import substitution in UK industry and to allow export to overseas markets, consequently, stimulating the economic growth of upstream and downstream industries. Therefore, from both economic and public health aspects, this support from Innovate UK represents the value for money for the taxpayer.