How The Use Of Barium Titanate Detoxifies Feedstock
Barium titanate is one of the most important materials we process and for good reason, as it is highly versatile in carrying out an important range of functions, not least in electronics and electroceramics, as well as its role in non-linear optics.
However, one particularly notable use is the valuable decontamination job it has in the production of hydrocarbon feedstock. This defines any substance that can be refined into hydrogen or other chemicals and includes some very familiar fuel sources such as oil, coal, gas and even water.
The refining processes can include the application of extreme heat, such as in ethylene furnaces, which produce cracked gas products like ethylene and propylene from feedstocks like ethane, propane, butane and kerosene.
However, the process of extracting chemicals from feedstock does have a major downside in that the production of hydrocarbon feedstock itself can require substantial quantities of toxic materials such as nickel and vanadium, for example through the use of nickel-based catalysts.
Unfortunately, this brings a downside as the toxicity of nickel can poison the cracking units used in subsequent processes, with this contamination inhibiting the production of high-value hydrocarbon molecules.
Vanadium has a different negative effect, which involves the deallumination of Y zeolite structures, which causes zeolite crystals to disintegrate, something nickel does not do. Consequently, some of the materials used to help produce feedstocks are as useful to it as square wheels on a car.
Since these effects hamper the production of feedstock and extraction of other materials from it, the addition of barium titanate to reduce the level of contamination can play a key role in making these chemical processes involving feedstocks more effective.
For a substance like barium titanate, which has such an array of uses in electroceramics, electronics and non-linear optics, the fact it is also water-soluble, can exist in multiple forms (although commonly seen as a white powder) and has the invaluable properties of being able to reduce contamination of feedstocks makes it a truly special material.
