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

环境污染物是危害人类健康的最大风险之一，因此，必须控制和防止污染物的释放，在已经发生释放的情况下，应使用补救方法来隔离有害物质并使该地区安全。针对工业中使用和产生的剧毒物质，新成立的大学衍生公司ThioTech开发了一系列前景广阔的含硫脱硫剂，可应用于采矿、石油天然气、废物处理和电力行业。由于高硫含量、高比表面积(每克材料的表面积超过2000平方米)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个国家签署了一项减少汞排放的联合协议(水田公约)，导致对工业的限制收紧，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来溶解矿石中的金属，并将它们以水溶液的形式泵回地表。然后，黄金被吸附到像活性碳(多孔炭)这样的吸附材料上。汞和氰化物是黄金开采行业中最常用的浸金剂，因此需要一种无毒、环保的浸金剂。问题是，没有可行的吸附材料来从更安全的替代黄金浸出剂中回收黄金。因此，得益于ThioTech材料的特殊化学结构，ThioTech材料有望成为解决这两个挑战的一种有前途的方法。通过由Innovated UK支持的大学研究创新商业化(ICURE)计划，对ThioTech材料潜力的市场研究进行了调查，并显示出成立剥离公司的高度可行性。在下一阶段，ThioTech将专注于材料的规模化开发和初步商业化。新公司将总部设在利物浦，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脱硫剂在英国工业中具有作为进口替代品的潜力，并允许出口到海外市场，从而刺激上下游产业的经济增长。因此，从经济和公共卫生两个方面来看，Innovate UK的这种支持代表着纳税人的物有所值。

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.