NanoProducts Awarded Catalyst Nanotechnology Patent - News Item

NanoProducts Corporation today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded it a key nanotechnology patent relating to catalysts. US Patent Number 6,652,967 entitled “Nano-dispersed powders and methods for their manufacture” extends the portfolio of US patents related to nanoscale materials and related nanotechnology already awarded to NanoProducts.

Heterogeneous catalysts are highly engineered substances that accelerate one or more chemical reactions while remaining essentially unchanged during the reactions. Numerous industrial chemistry, energy-related processes and environmental technologies use heterogeneous catalysts of complex compositions. The activity, selectivity and stability of catalysts often determine in large part the economics and capital costs of any process. There is a constant search for novel catalysts and methods for manufacturing superior catalysts.

NanoProducts disclosed that the recently awarded catalyst patent describes catalysts are often prepared by carefully sequenced wet precipitation methods that are followed by calcination and sintering to ensure the catalyst is mechanically robust. Unfortunately, these conventional techniques lead to broad size distribution in catalysts and aggregation of the catalyst particles. Catalyst aggregates tend to loose surface area over time, particularly in high temperature processes. In the recent patent, NanoProducts patent describes a method of preparing precise nanoparticles of complex compositions (alloys, mixed oxides) which are then arranged on supports with discrete separation. Such dispersed nanoparticles offer high active areas; furthermore, because the nanoparticles do not touch each other, they do not sinter easily. This precision morphology helps them retain their surface area and activity at high temperatures for significantly longer durations.

Dr. Tapesh Yadav, founder and CEO of NanoProducts, commented “Recent developments in nanotechnology are beginning to offer novel opportunities to the field of catalysis. In addition to the patented technology, NanoProducts has successfully produced a variety of different multi-metal complex catalytic compositions with surface areas in 100-500 m²/gm using our scaled-up patented Joule-Quench™ process. The catalytic compositions produced by NanoProducts include stoichiometric and difficult-to-produce non-stoichiometric compositions.”

Posted 15^th December 2003