Element Six Develops Synthetic Diamonds for Wastewater Treatment

Element Six, producer of synthetic diamond supermaterials and member of The De Beers Group of Companies, announced that its CVD diamond business experienced its fifth consecutive year of substantial growth. The company attributes its progress to continued product development and innovation, customer adoption and its academic partnerships that have contributed to developments in high-power lasers and quantum science and technology. In 2016, Element Six will build upon its positive results and leverage synthetic diamond as a material for novel applications and in the industrial wastewater treatment, semiconductor and optics fields.

Element Six’s boron doped diamond (BDD) is an electrode material that electrochemically converts toxic organic pollutants to inert gases so that clean water can be safely discharged into the environment. In a successful pilot project with a large wastewater treatment company, results were achieved in the use of BDD electrodes. In one of the customers’ many refinery wastewater treatment studies, sulfur compounds were reduced to non-detectable concentrations and the chemical oxygen demand of the wastewater was reduced by more than 95%.

Following a positive history of wastewater treatment results, in 2016 Element Six will be optimizing a reactor with more electrodes for efficient treatment of wastewater in the downstream petrochemical industries. Additionally, the company is developing a low temperature and reduced detergent consumption commercial laundry system in partnership with a laundry equipment manufacturer, which will reduce machine energy and chemical use.

Source: Element Six