Many specialists said that making diamond from carbon dioxide (CO2) was impossible, but EnviroDiamond Technologies claims to have succeeded. Daren Swanson, B.Sc., President of ETI, is reviewing recent lab results.The company says that “after banging away for three years, he has proven that CO2 can indeed be detonated to produce microscopic diamond dust.” Dubbed ‘Cold Detonation Physics’ or CDP, the technology consists of mixing dry ice, which is frozen CO2, with other ingredients to make an explosive. This chilly -78.5^oC mixture is packed into a very thick steel pipe and then detonated. Boom, bang, bling! The result – diamond.

“Five explosive tests conducted recently in Beijing, China, are sending shock waves throughout the technical community. Byproduct analysis from Queen’s University clearly shows that ETI’s technology produces very small diamond from CO2, referred to as nanodiamond.”

Fine diamond material is used industry wide for applications ranging from coating tools and drill-bits to polishing and delivering chemotherapy drugs into the body. Diamond from CO2 may prove to be the least expensive way to make synthetic diamond dust and certainly the most environmentally friendly.

CO2 can now be used to make diamond and an explosive with potential use in mining that could actually save lives. The explosive’s low temperature of detonation is ideal for mines hampered with the risk of methane or coal dust explosions.

The next step is to develop both the mining and diamond facets of CDP with strategic partners in summer/fall of 2011.

“Solid state 13C magic angle spinning (MAS) has been used to confirm the presence of nanodiamond in the sample.” – Dr. Francoise Sauriol, NMR Manager at Queen’s University. “I hope to be able to market this new product for EnviroDiamond as a premium product for grinding and polishing applications and increasing productivity in the Machine Tool Industry.” – Robert A Heflin, President of ESP USA.

The company says the “physical characteristics of our product should meet or exceed the competition’s because ETI’s diamond dust is not machined from coarser diamond and therefore has a rougher surface.  Envirodiamond is cheaper to produce.”