The disclosure relates to tiles or slabs comprising a fired ceramic material which has a chemical composition with a particular combination of oxides; to a method for the manufacture of said tiles or slabs; and to the use thereof for construction or decoration applications.

The present disclosure includes proppants and methods of making the proppants. The proppants herein may contain titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, and/or aluminum dioxide. Also included in the present disclosure are methods of using the proppants to treat a reservoir.

A process for treatment of nanoparticles of mineral filler for obtaining 5 processed nanoparticles for use in polymerization in the presence of nanopartciles which includes the steps of (a) drying a mineral filler with an inert gas for remove catalyst poisons; (b) mixing the mineral filler dried obtained in step (a) with a swelling agent in a liquid state or near a critical state or in the supercritical state; (c) subjecting the swelling agent of the 10 mixture obtained in step (b) to an endoenthalpic or isoentalphic phase change by altering the conditions of the temperature and/or pressure; (d) subjecting the nanoparticles of the mixture obtained in step (c) to contact of scavenging agent to react with catalyst poisons; then the mixture obtained in step (d) can be dried in a step (e) with an inert gas to remove sub-products 15 from scavenging agent and catalyst poisons to obtain the treated nanoparticles.

A composition comprises at least one form of attapulgite present in a solid weight fraction amount ranging from 0.25% to 5%; kaolin present in a solid weight fraction amount ranging from 17% to 50%; and optionally Ball Clay in a solid weight fraction amount ranging from 0% to 25%. Although makeable by other processes, in some embodiments, the composition is makeable by mixing component ingredients. Although usable for other purposes, in some embodiments, the composition is used to make ceramic pieces, e.g., via casting, pressing, jiggering or jollying, especially when the slip has solids, chemistry and viscosity suitable for shaping before drying, sintering, and optionally finishing.

A composition comprises at least one form of attapulgite present in a solid weight fraction amount ranging from 0.25% to 5%; kaolin present in a solid weight fraction amount ranging from 17% to 50%; and optionally Ball Clay in a solid weight fraction amount ranging from 0% to 25%. Although makeable by other processes, in some embodiments, the composition is makeable by mixing component ingredients. Although usable for other purposes, in some embodiments, the composition is used to make ceramic pieces, e.g., via casting, pressing, jiggering or jollying, especially when the slip has solids, chemistry and viscosity suitable for shaping before drying, sintering, and optionally finishing.

A microwavable thermodynamic element that can be used to reduce the cooling rate of an object that has been previously heated to a temperature greater than the ambient temperature of the object or for use in the reduction of the cooling rate of a heated liquid by immersion of the thermodynamic element into the liquid.

A ceramic product and a method of producing the ceramic product produced by pretreating the feedstock from at least of iron/steel recovery, recovery of at least one non-ferrous material, sieving, crushing, milling, aging, and thermal treatment, receiving as a first powder a first recovered material from the pretreating, receiving as a second powder a second recovered material from the pretreating, combining the first and second powders with water to form at least one of an extrudable paste and a granulated mixture, forming a green body from the at least one of the extrudable paste after extrusion and the granulated mixture; drying the green body, firing the green body to form the ceramic product, and cooling the ceramic product.

A ceramic product and a method of producing the ceramic product produced by pretreating the feedstock from at least of iron/steel recovery, recovery of at least one non-ferrous material, sieving, crushing, milling, aging, and thermal treatment, receiving as a first powder a first recovered material from the pretreating, receiving as a second powder a second recovered material from the pretreating, combining the first and second powders with water to form at least one of an extrudable paste and a granulated mixture, forming a green body from the at least one of the extrudable paste after extrusion and the granulated mixture; drying the green body, firing the green body to form the ceramic product, and cooling the ceramic product.

The novel process enables designing of raw materials and processing parameters, enabling synergistic and simultaneous chemical reactions among the various reactants of the design mix of chemical precursor of brine sludge which includes barium sulphate, magnesium hydroxide, calcium carbonate, sodium chloride, silica, aluminum containing compounds necessary for developing highly efficient shielding phases leading to homogenous matrix of shielding materials.

A process for preparing roofing granules includes forming kaolin clay into green granules and sintering the green granules at a temperature of at least 900 degrees Celsius to cure the green granules until the crystalline content of the sintered granules is at least ten percent as determined by x-ray diffraction.