Company works on process to create silica with agricultural waste

CALGARY, Alberta (May 14)—An independent engineering company working on developing commercial uses for agricultural waste claims to have developed a process to derive precipitated silica from the biomass, and is teaming up with a U.S. tire maker to evaluate the material's processing characteristics. The company, AgriTec Systems Inc., has been awarded a U.S. patent for its method of producing amorphous precipitated silicas from biomass ash. The process reportedly can yield precipitated silica on its own, or with deposited carbon. AgriTec Systems, a Delaware company trading on the Canadian stock exchange, claims silica made using its process would enable rubber processors to lower production costs because they wouldn't have to add carbon black to the mixture separately.