Published: October 29, 2019 |

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The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has made great strides toward advancing technologies that convert coal to carbon nanomaterials for use in consumer products.

Carbon nanomaterials are tiny, carbon-based materials with unique properties that enhance the strength and the thermal and electrical conductivity of materials. They are traditionally derived from petroleum or graphite, but their use in commercial products has been limited due to high manufacturing costs and finite supplies.

Thus, NETL and its partners are developing simple, scalable methods to produce carbon nanomaterials from coal and coal byproducts that may reduce manufacturing costs and energy consumption for electronics, batteries, solar cells, cements, plastics, and other consumer products.

NETL is working on a patent-pending method for making graphene quantum dots — small fluorescent nanoparticles, which can be used in composite plastics, batteries, water filtration systems, and 3D printing materials. The method reduces costs as a penny’s worth of coal can be converted to 1 liter of graphene quantum dots suspended in water — worth about $50,000. This can be done in just a few hours. Subsequently, a ton of coal, which is valued at $30-$60, could produce nanomaterials worth $300,000-$20 million per ton.

“Our work to develop carbon nanomaterials supports the Lab’s COAL MAT initiative, which is a coordinated research and technology development effort between national laboratories, universities and industry stakeholders that focuses on developing high-value products from coal feedstocks and evaluating how these products impact coal and manufacturing markets,” Christopher Matranga, a researcher on NETL’s Functional Materials Team, said.

Source: Daily Energy Insider

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