BORON AND BORATES NEWS

Borates Today publishes news, insights, guides, and latest special reports about boron, borates, and borax for investors, researchers, and readers interested in Decarbonization; Advanced Energy, Food Security and Micronutrients.

NEWS

origins of boron
RESEARCH

Origins of Boron

Origins of Boron. Boron exists naturally in very small amounts on Earth. It is found mainly in the earth's crust in boric acid (HBO(OH)), but can also exist in compounds with various elements including fluorine, oxygen, and sodium. Boron makes up about 2.4% of the total of the crust.

NEWS

Boron in Paper Production

Boron in Paper Production

Borate compounds are widely used in chemical processes and recovery - Boron in paper production - by mills all over the globe. Sodium borohydride is used in paper production primarily to bleach paper in the preparation stage. Boron is also used in the form of borax pentahydrate to support causticising. Borate autocausticization is a cost-saving technique that can help paper mills save money on material, recovery, and energy.

Food Hunger and Boron

Food Hunger and Boron

Food Hunger and Boron: In 2020, between 720 and 811 million people faced hunger. In a world of plenty, where enough food is produced to feed everyone on the planet, hunger should be a thing of the past. However, conflict, climate change, disasters, inequality, and – most recently – the COVID-19 pandemic means one in nine people globally is still going to bed hungry, and famine looms for millions, states the World Food Programme (WFP). Boron can help to dramatically improve food yields and is a vital micronutrient in human health.

Boron Spurs Excitement in Oil and Gas

Boron Borates Oil And Gas 300x169

Boron has multiple applications in the oil and gas industry. Oil companies are using Borax to help remove crude from the ground by dissolving it into the water. Later, it is pumped out of the ground along with the oil (“wet extraction”).

Carbon Capture Funding and Boron

Carbon Capture Funding and Boron

Carbon capture technology has been developed for coal-fired power plants with FECM support for over two decades. Over 20 successful pilot-scale projects have been implemented including a showcase demonstration project which captures and stores over one million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

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GUIDE TO BORON

APPLICATIONS

ADVANCED ENERGY, APPLICATIONS, Automotive, INDUSTRY SECTORS

Ford Boron Steel Bodywork

Automotive makers, including Ford, are taking advantage of boron's high tensile strength to build stronger, safer, and lighter cars. Boron steel is a crucial ingredient in the Ford Fiesta's pillars and structural elements and its other car brands. Boron steel is steel alloyed with small amounts of boron. It is four times higher than the average high-strength steel.

APPLICATIONS, Ceramic and Enamels

Borates in Ceramics

Ceramics - ceramic glazes and enamels - are applied to ceramic ware, sanitary ware, tableware, and tiles. Borates are used extensively in such enamels and ceramic glazes. Borates used include colemanite, ulexite, and several specialty borates, which provide efficient production and protection against the elements to the finished products.

CHEMISTRY

Chemistry, SCIENCE

The Fascinating World of Tourmaline

Tourmaline is a group of boron silicate minerals with similar physical properties and a standard crystal structure but the minerals vary widely in chemical composition. A wide variety of compositions, trace elements, and shade facilities causes tourmalines to occur in more colors and color combinations than any other mineral group.

RESEARCH

Agriculture, Crop Management, DECARBONIZATION, Environmental Protection, Farming, Food Access, Food Availability, Food Stability, Food Utilization, Forests and Parks, Human Health, RESEARCH

Boron – The Building Block of Urbanization

Boron is a metal useful to modern societies for over 100 years. It is most commonly available as borax in household cleaning products. Or, as the boric acid in eye drops and mouthwashes. However, it has many other uses in urbanization. It is present in construction...

Energy Management, RESEARCH

Boron Nitride Powers Thermal Conductivity

Boron nitride, also known as "white graphite," is a semiconductor material that conducts electricity. It is chemically inert and electrically insulating with no bandgap in the bulk phase that would allow it to emit light when excited by an energy source. Because of its excellent thermal conductivity properties, layers of boron nitride are often added onto other materials like silicon carbide (SiC) for use in high-efficiency power devices like thermoelectric cooler packages (TECs).

BENEFITS

BENEFITS, Human Health

Boron Health Benefits

Boron is an essential mineral for human health and in many cases, it cannot be obtained through diet alone. It has been found that boron deficiency can lead to bone diseases such as osteoporosis, arthritis or joint pain. Boron deficiency also leads to reduced ability of the body to absorb calcium which may lead to brittle nails, teeth or bones. For those who are faced with these conditions and need relief, there are a number of different ways to get treated with the help of Boron medically.

MINING BORON & BORATES

MINING

MINING, PODCASTS, SPECIAL REPORTS

Podcast – Billion Dollar Boron

Podcast - Billion dollar boron. In 2021, borates sales hit billions of dollars. Why? The demand for boron is increasing rapidly in strategic sectors such as aerospace and defense, zero-carbon, and advanced energy solutions, which depend on boron-based technologies to reduce emissions. Recent forecasts predict that boron demand will increase by 30% by the end of the decade.

Company Profiles, MINING

Country Profile of Boron USA

Boron USA: The production of boron USA and boron extracted products in the USA is a strategic activity. Borates extraction as high-end minerals contributes to the advanced technology of industries such as aerospace and defence. They are also important to secure food supply in domestic agriculture, and contribute to decarbonisation efforts. The USA is a net importer of borates given Eti Maden’s control of supply and declining production by Rio Tinto but new sources – the Fort Cady project by ABR – will address this imbalance

INVEST IN BORON

INVEST IN BORON, MINING

Boron Joins the Rare Earths Club

Rare Earth elements are valuable because they have magnetic and optical properties which create technologies in components such as audio speakers, hard drives, camera lenses, MRI imaging, and monitors of all sorts. But there is a cost to mining them as post-mining purification processes create hazardous waste. Boron is a potential alternative, providing clean and superconductive, energy-efficient benefits while being cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

INVEST IN BORON, MINING

Billion Dollar Boron

Billion dollar boron. In 2021, borates sales hit billions of dollars. Why? The demand for boron is increasing rapidly in strategic sectors such as aerospace and defense, zero-carbon, and advanced energy solutions, which depend on boron-based technologies to reduce emissions. Recent forecasts predict that boron demand will increase by 30% by the end of the decade.

PLANET BORON

DECARBONIZATION

ADVANCED ENERGY

ADVANCED ENERGY, MINING, PODCASTS

Podcast – Novel Applications in BNNTs

Today, we're going to look at novel applications using boron nitride nanotubes. Boron nitride nanotubes, or BNNTs, are mechanically and structurally identical to carbon nanotubes. BNNTs, however, have unique properties that are electrically insulating as well as transparent because of the polarized boron nitride bond.

Energy Management, RESEARCH

Hydrogen Boron Fusion – Creating New Energy

Hydrogen-Boron 11 fusion -Boron Hydrogen Fusion - has always been the ultimate fusion reaction. It does not create radioactive waste and its fuels are both abundant in nature and non-radioactive. Few other researchers had studied this reaction as it was considered scientifically too difficult. The temperatures required to ignite the reaction are more than 100 times higher than that of the sun – a technical hurdle that has held back practical energy generation for decades.

FOOD SECURITY

Agriculture, Crop Management, FOOD SECURITY

Boron in Agriculture

The use of boron is a crucial component to farming success. Because without adequate levels, crops cannot grow or can harvest successfully. Soil with inadequate amounts of elemental boron does not provide enough nutrients that plants need to survive. Thus, it leads them into an unhealthy state which causes their growth rates to decrease immensely. This happens not just when first planted but also during maturity and harvest periods.

MICRONUTRIENTS