Location
Research & Development
At ICL, our innovation is focused on several areas where the downstream utilization of our core minerals helps to fulfill humanity’s essential needs in engineered materials.
Phosphates continue to fulfill essential performance needs in developing longer lasting asphalt highways, lightweight buildings, fast setting cements, higher compressive strength cements, and CO2 absorbing concrete, which reduces the carbon footprint and the greenhouse effect. ICL’s phosphates lend themselves to 3D printed cement composites which are accelerating the rate of building construction and faster delivery of disaster relief shelters.
Click on the Construction title to gain more information about our construction applications.
Biomedical
Phosphate bone substitutes are part of the emerging trends in which ICL’s raw materials are being utilized. Calcium phosphate bone grafts are used in implants during oral surgeries and hip replacements as well as in treating damaged hip joints and degenerative bone diseases.
Heavy metal free anticorrosive pigments improve coating performance in corrosive environments. Population growth has led to an increase of paints used for protecting human assets prone to corrosion. This has spawned the use of corrosion inhibiting pigments in high performance, powder coatings, architectural, industrial, marine and decorative coatings.
Click on the Coating Durability title to gain more information about our paints and coatings applications.
The scarcity of safe drinking water for public water systems has necessitated the use of phosphates in municipal water treatment. Phosphates are used to prevent "red" (from iron) and "black" (from manganese) contaminated water. Phosphates prevent and/or retard scale formation (from minerals depositing) and corrosion (from low pH and/or dissimilar metals) in the water distribution systems as well as reduce soluble lead and copper in potable water delivered to the consumer's tap. The leaching of lead into plumbing systems can be greatly reduced by introducing water-soluble orthophosphates into potable water distribution systems. At low levels, the phosphates react with the lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) and hardness ions (calcium Ca and/or magnesium Mg) to form an insoluble coating on the internal surfaces of the distribution system. Once this coating is formed, observed lead and copper levels in the drinking water drop rapidly. This effect can be maintained by continued metering of phosphates into the system.
Click on the Water Treatment title to gain more information about our water treatment applications.