Development of small-scale specialty nickel powder production process

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Cobric Chemicals Inc. (a developer and provider of innovative by-product management solutions) has**partnered with Sheridan College and SMART Metal Powders (a sole proprietorship providing expertise to the**metal powders industry) to design and develop a scalable process to produce high-purity, micron-sized nickel**powder via nickel carbonyl technology. The process - when designed, optimized and controlled effectively -**can yield specialty nickel powders that have niche market applications in a number of renewable energy**industries such as solar photovoltaic panels, rechargeable batteries and both solid oxide and molten carbonate**fuel cells, as well as electronic materials used in mobile phones and flat panel displays. The process involves**the production and decomposition of nickel tetracarbonyl under certain controlled process conditions.**Specifically, the objective of this project is to design and control a process known as the Mond process to yield**specialty powders that are not available commercially, yet are requested by end users in the renewable energy**and electronics industries. Based on experience, the industry partners for this project believe that carbonyl**technology is capable of making these products. The experimental as well as theoretical modeling work**proposed in this project (which is a continuation of a successful NSERC Engage grant) will address several**design uncertainties associated with a demonstration-scale plant that could be scaled to a commercially-viable**business venture.