The Institute of Applied Chemistry in Changchun has made progress in the high-value application of diatomite.

Diatomite is an inorganic material that is light weight, porous, and easy to functionalize. It is widely used in industrial fields such as coatings and filtration. Jilin Province has the largest reserves and production of diatomite in China, accounting for 51% of the country's total reserves. However, the current utilization of diatomite resources relies heavily on the production and processing of filtering aids and crystalline silicon wafers. The products are single and heavily polluted, with low technological and economic added value. How to improve the technological and economic added value of diatomite products is the core technical problem that needs to be urgently solved in the entire industry.

Through several years of hard work on technological innovation, the Institute of Applied Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Changchun has successfully developed a series of highly efficient and salt-resistant diatomite composite flocculent materials. The composite flocculent material utilizes the synergistic effects of organic and inorganic materials, not only has excellent flocculation effect and fast dissolution, but also shows good adaptability to complex sewage systems with high salt and mineralization, such as paper industry wastewater and oil field operation wastewater. The salt-resistant flocculation performance of the product far exceeds that of similar products in the domestic market. Due to the addition of inorganic diatomite, the cost of composite flocculent material can be significantly reduced by about 30% compared with similar products.

At the same time, the research team actively carries out the high-value application research of diatomite in multiple fields, which has also made significant progress. At present, composite agricultural slow-release materials are mainly prepared with diatomite as the main raw material, which can effectively control and release fertilizers such as urea and compound fertilizers. Its performance has reached or exceeded the level of existing products in the domestic market. The diatomite content in the composite agricultural slow-release material system can be as high as 80-90%, which is an important application direction for the high-value utilization of diatomite. The relevant products have completed pilot-scale production and entered the field experiment stage.