Summary of the Envirodiamond Dust Project
Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by admin in Company and Goals
Summary
A detonation process called Cold Detonation Physics (CDP) has been developed to convert the greenhouse gas CO2 into diamond dust used extensively in the abrasives industry. With key components to this technology recently proven, CDP could potentially convert 75% of the carbon in one tonne of CO2 into diamond dust. The amount produced would be ~200 kg of diamond dust that could be sold for about $350,000 on the market. Global consumption of the $20 billion industrial diamond market is over 4.5 billion carats per year and diamond dust represents 40% of that market. CDP is a billion dollar opportunity.
CDP is being developed through Envirodiamond Technologies Inc. Majority owner (70%) and inventor Daren Swanson, B.Sc. (Eng.) (Hons.), with the support of private investors, has conducted detonation tests both in Canada and Beijing, China. Tests consist of mixing dry ice and other ingredients, packing the chilly mixture into a steel pipe, and detonating the mixture in a special containment vessel. Detonation totally obliterates the pipe as the byproduct is released.
Analysis of byproduct at Queen’s University clearly shows that CDP definitely makes diamond dust. Visual inspection of the devastating force of detonation shows that CDP also holds great promise as a mining explosive. Coal mining requires a low temperature of detonation, which CDP offers, to avoid accidental coal dust or methane gas explosions.
Commercialization testing is tentatively scheduled for fall/winter 2011. ETI is looking for a strategic partner in the coal-mining or explosives industry to develop CDP as a cost competitive mining explosive that offers greater safety. In the short-term, the company is preparing a portable detonation containment vessel to begin producing samples and studying yield.
CDP also shows potential in producing alternative abrasive products such as fused aluminum oxide, cubic boron nitride, and silicon carbide. Alternative abrasive product synthesis still has to be tested.
Adding diamond dust to polymers enhances strength, addition of nanodiamond material to industrial lubricants decreases lubricant consumption, mining explosives applications may be tapped, and the technology ultimately offers a unique means of carbon capture and storage. CDP technology holds a lot of value and potential.
Once fully commercialized, CDP offers a viable means to make and sell hundreds of millions of dollars of industrial diamond dust in a way that addresses environmental issues regarding carbon storage and CO2. CDP is a financially and socially responsible step in the right direction.
kirkland lake, ontario
Apr 3rd, 2010
[...] … Crow and worked in underground mines in Kirkland Lake until he was old enough to join the …Executive Summary of the Envirodiamond Dust Project …The project is underway with equipment being designed and testing planned for spring 2010 at Nordex [...]