While material science and the chemical industry are finding new markets with new products, such as graphene, biodegradable polymers and bio-plastics, currently it is an older form of technology which is seeing some of the best market growth.
Microspheres are being seen as one of the chemical industry’s new wonder-products, praised for their seemingly simple design, yet great versatility. Perhaps best of all is how microspheres can be adapted to suit all manner of chemical engineering challenges.
For example, the company APM, one of the world’s leading microsphere producers, has this to say, “Our aim is to deliver value to our customers’ businesses by providing functional filler systems and solutions. Since customers have different needs, we can provide tailor-made products to meet their needs.”
Many new uses are being found at the Savannah River National Laboratory, in South Carolina, where Ceramics magazine reports on the uses of porous-wall, hollow glass microspheres (or PWHGM’s for short). These high-spec microspheres were developed, “primarily for nuclear-related purposes, including storage of radioactive isotopes of hydrogen and separations. However, the reach of PWHGMs extends much further—microspheres have potential uses in energy technologies (e.g., hydrogen storage for hydrogen vehicles, improvements in lead–acid batteries, and new concepts in lithium-ion batteries), environmental remediation (e.g., global warming studies and CO2 sequestering), textiles, medicine, and security.”
Chris Rosenbusch, Marketing Manager for microsphere manufacturer Expancel Inc. (part of the AkzoNobel group) is also keen to talk about the many qualities that microspheres can provide, noting that, “Most users focus on one or two attributes of the spheres, but in the composites industry, manufacturers are taking advantage of six or seven attributes.”
With so many applications in so many different fields, it is little wonder that interest among raw material suppliers and in the manufacturing industry is growing. This is a point supported by Gary Gladysz, VP of technology at Trelleborg Emerson & Cuming, a global leader in the product, who states that the most amazing thing is that, “The microsphere can be tailored to achieve multiple objectives in one part.”
With their importance increasing in a number of growing markets (the battery industry, pharmaceuticals, textiles, energy, security measures, speciality chemicals, construction products etc.) then it is clear to see why so many predict that in the future microspheres will get bigger. AkzoNobel calls them, “The world’s favourite secret ingredient,” but with sales expanding as microspheres find their way into more and more products, how long will it be before the secret is out?