Engineered cellular magmatics (ECMs) are synthetic stone of glass and ceramic. ECMs replicate rare, naturally occurring volcanic materials, and exhibit useful structural and chemical properties of those materials. The

US Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United State ...

has recognized ECMs as an advanced material, funding further research into the manufacture and application of ECMs through

ARPA-E ARPA-E, or Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy is a United States government agency tasked with promoting and funding research and development of advanced energy technologies. It is modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agenc ...

and

Savannah River National Laboratory The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) is a multi-program national laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management. SRNL is located at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Jackson, South Carolina. I ...

Properties

ECMs can be engineered to include a broad range of silicate species, with various reactivity. Their physical structure can range from closed to open cell, resembling pumice or porous ceramic. They can be composed of internal pore and vesicular structures with individual cross sections that can measure from millimeter down to nanometer scale. Open cell varieties exhibit extensive surface areas which amplify

ion exchange Ion exchange is a reversible interchange of one kind of ion present in an insoluble solid with another of like charge present in a solution surrounding the solid with the reaction being used especially for softening or making water demineralised, ...

capabilities (both

cationic An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

and

anionic An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

). These features make them well suited for various cement construction filtration and remediation applications. ''They typically contain both

amorphous In condensed matter physics and materials science, an amorphous solid (or non-crystalline solid, glassy solid) is a solid that lacks the long-range order that is characteristic of a crystal. Etymology The term comes from the Greek language ...

and

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macr ...

line structures''.

Application

Known uses for ECMs include air and

water filtration A water filter removes impurities by lowering contamination of water using a fine physical barrier, a chemical process, or a biological process. Filters cleanse water to different extents, for purposes such as: providing agricultural irrigation ...

, biological and chemical remediation, microbial habitat, soil and cementitious amendments. They can also be used in the manufacture of various forms of

zeolite Zeolites are microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, oxygen, and have the general formula ･y where is either a metal ion or H+. These ...

due to the resulting silicate lattice, and in various reactors for

chemical separation A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...

. They meet and exceed the ASTM Standard Specification for Lightweight Aggregates for Structural Concrete, and exceed ASTM standards for vegetative

green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainag ...

media.

History

ECMs share a history with foam glass, but are engineered for specific chemical reactivity and structural properties not generally considered the domain of foam glass. The term ''engineered cellular magmatic'' was adopted to describe the material in late 2019 by inventor Robert Hust. Other named inventors include Gene Ramsey,{{Cite web, title=W. Gene Ramsey, url=https://patents.justia.com/inventor/w-gene-ramsey, url-status=live, access-date=2021-02-21, website=patents.justia.com Cory Trivelpiece, Gert Nielsen, and Philip Galland.

Manufacture

ECMs can be manufactured from raw materials (minerals with high silica content) and a range of waste and

recycled materials Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

that, by their utilization, represent significant savings in both energy and carbon emissions. ECMs have been successfully created utilizing various waste streams,

upcycling Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of greater quality, such as artistic value or environmental value. ...

glass waste, municipal incinerator waste ash,

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

waste, and wastes from various types of mining. The production process is similar to that of sintered foam glass or ceramics, consisting of 1) grinding the input materials to a powder, 2) firing the material at various levels of thermal exposure (500º - 2000 °C) as it 3) travels through a 36-meter (120 ft.) long furnace.

References

Materials science

Properties

Application

History

Manufacture

See also

References