This invention concerns a method for the manufacture of a granulated aerogel (1) from a precursor (2), comprising the following steps: mixing the precursor (2) with a synthetic solvent (3) and a hydrolysis agent such as water, and if appropriate a catalyst (4), to obtain a gel, granulating the resulting product, in particular by cutting a jet of said gel, to produce granules, maintaining the granules in contact with the synthetic solvent (3) and the hydrolysis agent, washing the granules by adding a washing solvent to extract in particular the hydrolysis agent and, if appropriate, the catalyst (4), drying of the granules to extract the synthetic solvents (3) and/or washing solvents by sending them supercritical CO.sub.2 in excess, the steps of granulating, maintaining, washing and drying being carried out at a pressure higher than that of the critical point of CO.sub.2, and these conditions being maintained between these steps. The present invention also concerns an installation specially configured to implement the method according to the invention.

A system for recovering gel-mass from a gel-mass-containing waste material. The system includes mangle rolls, a heated accumulator for receiving and melting the gel-mass-containing waste material to provide an oil phase and a non-oil phase; a pumping system; an optional mixer; and a control system.

A material with a scaffold comprising a series of at least partially spaced fibers and gas vesicles locates between fibers. The gas vesicles comprise external anchoring modules that are effective to anchor the gas vesicles to the fibers.

Method of forming colloidal lignin particles, comprising the step of dissolving lignin in a mixture of organic solvents, feeding of the said solution into water, and forming acolloidal dispersion of lignin. The used solvents are recovered with methods such as distillation and reused in the process. Water is removed from the colloidal dispersion by ultrafiltration and reused in the process. The concentrated colloidal dispersion is dried by spray drying. The invention can be used in applications where the colloidal nature of lignin will afford an advantage over bulk lignin.

Porous metal oxide microspheres are prepared via a process comprising forming a liquid dispersion of polymer nanoparticles and a metal oxide; forming liquid droplets of the dispersion; drying the droplets to provide polymer template microspheres comprising polymer nanospheres; and removing the polymer nanospheres from the template microspheres to provide the porous metal oxide microspheres. The porous microspheres exhibit saturated colors and are suitable as colorants for a variety of end-uses.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for forming one or more compartments in a yield-stress fluid, wherein the one or more compartments can be one or more droplets. The yield-stress fluid is selected from polydimethylsiloxane, silicone oil, colloidal particles in water or oil, diblock or triblock copolymers in water or oil, microcellulose, xanthum gum, 0.1 wt % Carbopol and a combination thereof. The present invention is applicable for use in crystallisation, bioassays and chemical microreactors.

The present disclosure provides methods for forming sol-gels, sol-gel films and substrates, such as vehicle components, having a sol-gel film disposed thereon. At least one method of forming a sol-gel includes mixing a metal alkoxide, an acid stabilizer, and an organic solvent to form a first mixture having about 10 wt % or less water content based on the total weight of the first mixture. The method includes mixing an organosilane with the first mixture to form a second mixture having about 10 wt % or less water content based on the total weight of the second mixture.

The present disclosure belongs to the technical field of gel material processing, and discloses processing equipment and a processing technology of a gel microsphere material. The processing equipment comprises a mixing barrel, wherein a motor is installed at the top of the mixing barrel; a rotating rod is arranged in the mixing barrel; the rotating rod is fixedly connected to the output end of the motor; a fan-shaped impeller is installed at the bottom end of the rotating rod; the bottom of the rotating rod communicates with a gas conveying pipe; a shunting ring is fixedly connected to the inner side wall of the mixing barrel; the bottom of the rotating rod is fixedly connected with the fan-shaped impeller; and the gas conveying pipe is arranged at the bottom of the mixing barrel to inflate a raw material solution in the mixing barrel, when bubbles float in the solution, the solution can be stirred, and then under the cooperation of the fan-shaped impeller at the bottom of the rotating rod, the raw material solution of the gel microsphere material is stirred more quickly and more uniformly in the mixing barrel compared with the raw material solution only stirred by the fan-shaped impeller.

The present invention provides a fiber-reinforced aerogel material which can be used as insulation in thermal battery applications. The fiber-reinforced aerogel material is highly durable, flexible, and has a thermal performance that exceeds the insulation materials currently used in thermal battery applications. The fiber-reinforced aerogel insulation material can be as thin as 1 mm less, and can have a thickness variation as low as 2% or less. Also provided is a method for improving the performance of a thermal battery by incorporating a reinforced aerogel material into the thermal battery. Further provided is a casting method for producing thin fiber-reinforced aerogel materials.

The object of the present invention is to provide an emulsion composition that maintains emulsion stability even after high temperature process such as sterilization (heat resistance), shows a small change in particle size distribution between before and after heating, and maintains emulsion stability even under conditions where transformation of an oil phase component (for example, solidification or crystallization of the oil phase component due to temperature drop, or melting of the oil phase component due to temperature rise) occurs (temperature drop resistance), wherein the composition is easily handled during the production process. The object is solved by an oil-in-water emulsion composition containing solid particles, a predefined surfactant, an oil phase component, and an aqueous phase component, wherein the oil phase component includes a predefined oil component and the solid particles are distributed along the interface between the oil phase component and the aqueous phase component.