GooglePatent applicationMaterials & manufacturingInterest 3/10

Google patents method to recycle silica particles into larger granules

Patent drawing from the official filing.

The filing describes a process for taking fine silica particles and clumping them together into larger granules. It involves adding chemical coatings that help bind the small particles into a single, functionalized unit.

Why it mattersThis is a specific industrial process for managing silica waste or improving material consistency, which is relevant to manufacturing efficiency but not directly visible to consumers.

In the filing’s own words

Disclosed herein is a functionalized granule including a plurality of fine particles and a coating, as well as systems configured to employ such functionalized granules. Also disclosed herein is a method including collecting a plurality of fine particles; and generating a plurality of functionalized granules using the plurality of fine particles, wherein an average dimension or a mean dimension of the plurality of functionalized granules is larger than an average dimension or a mean dimension of the plurality of fine particles.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A functionalized granule comprising: a plurality of fine particles, wherein at least one of the plurality of fine particles comprises a first porous silica, a first silane moiety bound to a surface of the first porous silica, and a first amine moiety bound to the first silane moiety; and a coating disposed on at least a portion of a surface of at least one of the plurality of fine particles, wherein the coating comprises an optional second silane moiety and a second amine moiety, and optionally wherein the coating is configured to bind the plurality of fine particles.

Facts

Company: Google (X Development LLC)
Official title: METHODS OF PRODUCING AND RECYCLING FUNCTIONALIZED AGGLOMERATED SILICA
Publication number: US20260316054A1
Application number: 19484310
Filed: May 23, 2024
Published: Oct 15, 2026
Inventors: 5
Claims: 59

Classified under

B01J 20/3028 Operations & transportB01D 53/0446 Operations & transportB01J 20/103 Operations & transportB01J 20/22 Operations & transportB01J 20/28004 Operations & transportB01J 20/28011 Operations & transport

Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.