Science and heavy industry · In service today
Magnetic separation
High-gradient magnets pull iron out of clay at industrial rates.
The record behind magnetic separation
Superconducting separation of kaolin · Clay MineralsSuperconductors in magnetic separation
High-gradient magnetic separation pulls weakly magnetic particles out of a slurry by passing it through a steel matrix inside a strong field. The field has to be held continuously on a production line, and with a resistive magnet that is a permanent and substantial electricity bill. A superconducting separator holds it for the cost of cooling instead, and the economics of brightening clay at industrial rates depend on exactly that difference.
What is stopping magnetic separation
Nothing about the material. It works, it is installed, and the constraint is capital cost and the availability of people who can keep a cryogenic system running inside a minerals plant. That is a different kind of problem from every other row on this list, and worth noticing: not every stalled application is waiting on physics.
What a better material would change for magnetic separation
No material would change this one. The technology works and it is installed, and what would spread it is a magnet a plant can keep running without a cryogenics specialist on staff. That is a packaging problem rather than a materials one, and it is worth saying so.
Conductors used in magnetic separation
Near magnetic separation, in science and heavy industry
SuperMatics is a platform infrastructure company for superconducting devices: software that finds the material and the process, lab work that makes and measures it, and pilot manufacturing with industrial partners.If you are working on something in this field and a material is what stands in the way, tell us about it.