Development of small-scale specialty nickel powder production process

Cobric Chemicals Inc.（一家创新副产品管理解决方案的开发商和供应商）与Sheridan College和SMART Metal powder（一家为金属粉末行业提供专业知识的独资企业）合作，设计和开发一种可扩展的工艺，通过镍羰基技术生产高纯度、微米级的镍粉。当设计、优化和有效控制时，该工艺可以生产出特殊的镍粉，这些镍粉在许多可再生能源行业中具有利基市场应用，如太阳能光伏板、可充电电池、固体氧化物和熔融碳酸盐燃料电池，以及用于移动电话和平板显示器的电子材料。该工艺是在一定的控制条件下生产和分解四羰基镍。具体来说，这个项目的目标是设计和控制一个被称为Mond工艺的过程，以产生商业上不可用的特殊粉末，但可再生能源和电子行业的最终用户要求。根据经验，该项目的行业合作伙伴认为羰基技术能够制造这些产品。在这个项目中提出的实验和理论建模工作（这是一个成功的NSERC参与资助的延续）将解决与示范规模的工厂相关的几个设计不确定性，这些工厂可以扩展到商业上可行的商业风险。

Cobric Chemicals Inc. (a developer and provider of innovative by-product management solutions) haspartnered with Sheridan College and SMART Metal Powders (a sole proprietorship providing expertise to themetal powders industry) to design and develop a scalable process to produce high-purity, micron-sized nickelpowder 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 energyindustries such as solar photovoltaic panels, rechargeable batteries and both solid oxide and molten carbonatefuel cells, as well as electronic materials used in mobile phones and flat panel displays. The process involvesthe 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 yieldspecialty powders that are not available commercially, yet are requested by end users in the renewable energyand electronics industries. Based on experience, the industry partners for this project believe that carbonyltechnology is capable of making these products. The experimental as well as theoretical modeling workproposed in this project (which is a continuation of a successful NSERC Engage grant) will address severaldesign uncertainties associated with a demonstration-scale plant that could be scaled to a commercially-viablebusiness venture.