India unveils first CNG bus covering 1,000 kilometers on a single fueling

In a major step towards making India a natural gas-based economy and making CNG as the eco-friendly option for long distance transport in the country, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, unveiled India’s first long distance CNG bus. Fitted with composite CNG cylinders, it can travel around 1,000 kilometers on a single fill. The project has been executed by Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) and has been achieved through pioneering design of Type IV Composite Cylinders in buses, replacing traditional very heavy Type-I Carbon Steel cylinders.

According to Pradhan, these CNG buses are being run on a pilot test, but soon they will be scaled on commercial basis. “Delhi has witnessed revolution in shift towards cleaner, gas based fuels. Over 500 CNG stations are operating in Delhi NCR today and about 1.2 million piped natural gas connections have been provided. Long haul CNG buses originating from Delhi to other locations will further drive this shift towards cleaner gas based fuels. This will improve overall ease of living of people by mitigating the problem of air pollution, ensuring a cleaner environment and reducing waiting time at CNG stations,” he said.

He also expressed that the Government wants to have “green corridors” around the national capital, with natural gas buses operating from Delhi to Chandigarh, Dehradun, Agra and Jaipur, and it is committed to promote the gas-based economy. In this regard $100 billion investment is being made in the energy infrastructure. He further said that the Government wants to begin door-to-door delivery of CNG and LNG, as is being done for diesel by mobile dispenser. The Minister added that LNG will also be added as the transportation fuel.

Moreover, Pradhan informed that a pilot project of hydrogen-blended CNG is already running in the city, and it will soon be scaled up. He said that the Government is promoting the waste-to-wealth efforts, and all sources of energy will be used to bring down India’s oil import dependency and make environment better.

Mahindra & Mahindra and Agility Fuel Solutions of the United States have partnered with IGL for this project, involving the introduction of the new concept of Type IV composite cylinders, which are 70% lighter than the Type – I (all steel) cylinders (currently being used in India). The main advantage of these cylinders is that due to its lighter weight, the number of cylinders can be increased in the vehicle thus creating more storage capacity on-board.

The buses, which used to carry only 80-100 kg of CNG with steel cylinders, can carry now 225-275 kg of CNG with the new composite cylinders, translating into a wider driving range. In addition, with more capacity of CNG in one vehicle, it is likely that there shall be reduction in queues at the CNG stations as these buses will not have to come frequently to refuel.

IGL has procured five Mahindra’s Type IV buses, which will be deliver to Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) on lease basis after the launch.

Source: Government of India

Covestro Offers Tear-resistant Polycarbonate Films for Breast Implant Packaging

Covestro has announced that it is particularly focused on premium packaging materials for high value medical devices that meet increased requirements for mechanical protection, sterilization and dimensional stability. Breast implants are sensitive products that should arrive undamaged at the treating doctor or hospital after manufacture, sterilization and transport. Covestro's Makrofol® MA507 polycarbonate film is well suitable for their packaging because it is highly transparent and allows the physician to reliably visually inspect the implant before unpacking it.

It also provides stable protection for the valuable medical device. The comparable product Makrofol® MA336 offers the same advantages, but also features a laminating film on it. Both films are characterized by high tear and impact resistance. They can be easily thermoformed and are fully compatible with the demanding autoclave sterilization process, where they need to withstand temperatures of up to 163 degrees Celsius. Both materials meet the ISO 9001:2015 quality management standard and two ASTM standard specifications for implantable breast prosthesis certification. Source: Covestro

SGL Carbon & Hyundai Extend Agreement for Fuel Cell Component Used in Automotive

SGL Carbon and the Hyundai Motor Group have announced an agreement on an early extension to the existing supply agreement for fuel cell components. The long-term agreement provides now for a substantial ramp-up of current production and delivery volumes of gas diffusion layers for the NEXO fuel cell car to support Hyundai’s objectives in the area of fuel cell drives. The investment required to fulfill this contract will not increase the overall capital expenditure budget of SGL Carbon in the next two years, as the company has reprioritized its investment projects.

Greenest Energy Technology

“The extension of the partnership with Hyundai is perfectly aligned to our strategic direction. Intelligent solutions in the area of sustainable energy are one of the key growth drivers for our company,” explains Dr. Michael Majerus, Spokesman of the Board of Management of SGL Carbon. “Whether used in a drive system in vehicles or as a stationary power supply, the fuel cell is one of the greenest energy technologies around. The market for fuel cells thus offers enormous potential for us.”

Expanding Fuel Cell Component Business

In the medium-term, SGL Carbon plans to more than quintuple its business with fuel cell components to annual sales of approximately 100 million euro. The company supplies around 200 customers around the world with gas diffusion layers for use in fuel cells. As a result of the growing demand, the company has gradually stepped up production capacity at its plant in Meitingen. 

Thanks to its technological expertise and experience, SGL Carbon can manufacture high-quality components for fuel cells on an industrial scale. To further advance the accelerated commercialization, the business with gas diffusion layers (GDL) will be transferred from the central R&D department Central Innovation to the business unit Graphite Materials & Systems (GMS) already in the fourth quarter 2019.

Clean Hydrogen-based Technology

Powered by hydrogen, the fuel cell is one of the cleanest technologies of the future. Hydrogen can be produced in a climate-neutral way using surplus energy from renewable sources. The only waste product after the reaction is water, which can be discharged in the form of water vapor. In the transport sector, the fuel cell offers greater range and a shorter refueling time than battery-powered drive systems. 

Source: SGL Carbon

Researchers Convert Forestry Biomass into High-value Chemicals

A research team, jointly led by Professor Ji Wook Jang, Professor Yong Hwan Kim, and Professor Sang Hoon Joo in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST has unveiled a novel biomass conversion technology that can turn forestry biomass residues (i.e., sawdust from timber logging) into higher value fuels and chemicals. 

Researchers Introduce Fusion Catalytic System

In the study, the joint research team has introduced a fusion catalytic system that can selectively convert lignin, which forms the chief constituent of wood wastes, into higher value chemicals via solar energy.

Lignin, after Cellulose, is the second most abundant renewable biopolymer found in nature and is usually discarded as waste in the pulp and paper industry in very large amounts. Unlike Cellulose, the structure of lignin is extremely complex and lacks steric regularity. Such traits make lignin hard to break down and even harder to convert into something valuable. 

Biocatalysts, such as enzymes, are often involved in lignin degradation, thus careful quantification of the input material (i.e., hydrogen peroxide, H2O2) is important for the activation of catalysts. At present, the process of extracting lignin from biomass is handled via Anthraquinone Process. However, due to high-pressure hydrogen condition and precious metal catalysts, this was not suitable for use with enzymes.

The research team solved this issue via the development of a compartmented photo-electro-biochemical system for unassisted, selective, and stable lignin valorization. The main advantage of this system is that it involves three catalytic systems (a photocatalyst for photovoltage generation, an electrocatalyst for H2O2 production, and a biocatalyst for lignin valorization) that are integrated for selective lignin dimer valorization upon irradiation with sunlight without the need for electrical energy or additional chemicals.

System Designing

• In designing the system, the research team placed polymer electrolyte membranes as separators between cells to protect the biocatalyst from detrimental conditions generated during the reaction, thus preserved its stability and activity.
• Their results show that the photo-electro-biochemical system can catalyze lignin dimer cleavage with a 93.7% conversion efficiency and 98.7% selectivity, which far surpasses those of single-compartment (37.3% and 34.8%) and two-compartment (25.0%, 48.1%) systems.
• The system was further applied for sustainable polymer synthesis using a lignin monomer, coniferyl alcohol, with a 73.3% yield and 98.3% of conversion efficiency; however, the polymer yields of the single-compartment and the two-compartment systems were only ca. 0% and 8.6%, respectively.

“This unassisted selective lignin valorization technology could convert waste lignin to value-added aromatics and polymer without the need for any additional energy and chemicals,” says Professor Ji Wook Jang. “This could possibly overcome the problems associated with current biomass upgradation, such as its low-cost effectiveness and limited processing technology.”

“This research is significant as it presents new possibilities for converting biomass such as waste wood into aromatic petrochemicals in an environmentally friendly way,” says Professor Yong Hwan Kim. “We believe that the development and scaling-up of this technology will be a milestone for the replacement of petrochemicals with biochemicals.”

Source: UNIST

Covestro’s CO2-based Plastics Production Method Among Finalist at Award Ceremony

A team of Covestro and RWTH Aachen has developed a new method for the use of carbon dioxide as a raw material, which ranks among the year’s best innovations in Germany. The new technologies make CO2 usable in plastics production and thereby reduces fossil resources like petroleum. They made it to the final round of the renowned German President's Award for Innovation in Science and Technology, which was presented in Berlin by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. 

Using CO2 for Resource Conservation and Circular Economy

According to team spokesperson Gürtler, using CO2 contributes to resource conservation by partially replacing the conventional raw material oil as the sole source of carbon. At the same time, it also makes it possible to produce more recyclable plastics whose components could be recycled more easily. In addition, the circular economy will benefit from the reuse of carbon dioxide. 

“We also see considerable potential for value creation by using CO2,” stressed Gürtler, who is responsible for developing new methods and products at Covestro.

“With the new platform technology, CO2 can be used to develop a wide range of high-quality plastics,” explained Berit Stange. She is responsible for the circular economy in a leading position at Covestro and supports the marketing of the new method.

Chemical precursors with CO2 (polyols) are already on the market for producing soft foams (polyurethane) for mattresses and soft furniture. The new material cardyon® is now also used for sports flooring. Further areas of application include elastic textile fibers, insulation and car interior applications.

Custom-made Catalyst

The use of CO2 was conceived in a research breakthrough. The difficulty that CO2 has in forming chemical bonds was a great challenge that was overcome. The solution was essentially found in a custom-made catalyst. It controls the chemical reaction so that it is environmentally friendly, economical and efficient.

This breakthrough was achieved by experts from Covestro and the CAT Catalytic Center, a research institute jointly operated by the company and the RWTH Aachen. Experts had been searching for such a catalyst for decades.

Covestro Among the Three Finalists

“Team CO2”, which made it among the three finalists and presented its innovation on stage in Berlin, consists of Dr. Christoph Gürtler and Dr. Berit Stange from Covestro, as well as Professor Walter Leitner, who teaches and performs research at RWTH Aachen and the Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion. The trio played a major role in the development and market launch of this innovative method. The German President’s Prize (or “Deutscher Zukunftspreis”) is handed out annually for outstanding achievements in technology and natural science that lead to market-ready products.

Avoiding Crude Oil as Central Resource

“We are very happy that we made it to the final round. The idea behind CO2 innovation fits in perfectly with the times Fossil sources, such as crude oil can no longer be the industry’s central resource if the world is heading towards a future that is low in greenhouse gases," said Covestro CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann. 

“The award has encouraged us to continue working intensively on developing innovative solutions for greater sustainability in many areas. Together with partners from the business and scientific community, we will continue to forge ahead with the development of alternative resources, such as CO2. As a chemicals and research location, Germany can make a name for itself in this field,” adds Steilemann.

Source: Covestro

Study Unveils New Chemical Payload Bearing Polymer Ideal for Medical Implants

Caltech scientists have developed a new kind of polymer that can carry a chemical payload as part of its molecular structure and release it in response to mechanical stress. The chemical system they have developed could one day be used to create medical implants that can release drugs into the body when triggered by something like ultrasound waves, they say.

Set of Polymer Chains Bonded to the Payload System

The new material consists of a set of polymer chains bonded to the payload system, creating a mechanically sensitive unit called a mechanophore. A so-called cascade reaction ejects the payload from the polymer. In simple terms, force applied to the polymer causes weak bonds in the mechanophore to rupture, spitting out an unstable intermediate molecule that promptly breaks down to release the attached payload.

Release of Coumarin Dye

In their paper, the authors demonstrate the release of a coumarin dye, an organic molecule with useful properties, but they say the polymer could be tailored to release a variety of molecules, including those with therapeutic qualities.

Releasing Drugs on Command

A material that can release drugs on command could be used to provide more precise treatment of some medical conditions, for example, a cancer therapy could deliver a drug directly to the intended target.

"The generality of this new platform is unique in that it allows, in principle, the mechanically triggered release of a wide range of cargo molecules," Robb says.

New System Can Be Used for Triggered Depolymerization

The system Robb and his colleagues have developed could also be tweaked for other purposes. He says that it is possible to create a polymer that depolymerizes or completely breaks down into small molecules, when subjected to stress. Alternatively, a polymer could be tailored to release a reporter molecule to signal locations in a structure that are under stress and could lead to a structural failure.

"We are actively working on expanding the design in a number of directions, to evaluate the scope of cargo release and for triggered depolymerization, which is particularly promising for stress amplification since it allows a single triggering event to generate many small molecules through a domino reaction," Robb says.

Source: Caltech

Toray creates world’s first porous carbon fiber with a nanosized continuous pore structure

Using this fiber as a support layer could lighten advanced membranes used in greenhouse gas separation and hydrogen production and make them more compact, thereby enhancing performance.

The company will keep pushing ahead with R&D for this new material to foster carbon recycling, collaborating with other entities in developing applications to sustainably tap hydrogen energy and shrink environmental footprints.

Absorption- and adsorption-based facilities conventionally separate carbon dioxide, biogas, hydrogen, and other gases. The issue with such setups, however, is that they are large and consume a lot of energy, resulting in heavy carbon dioxide emissions. Gas separation methods employing membranes have thus attracted considerable attention. But despite ongoing research, no membranes have yet combined satisfactory gas separation performance and durability.

Toray’s new material is chemically stable because it comprises carbon, and offers outstanding gas permeability. The material employs thin, flexible fibers, so when it is used to support gas membranes a module can house many of them. Modules can thus be compact and light. Such support makes it possible to combine a range of gas separation layers.

Toray looks to contribute to the swift commercialization of advanced separation membranes that are vital to materializing eco-friendly natural gas and biogas purification and hydrogen production.Toray innovated its new material by combining its outstanding polymer technology with its market share-leading carbon fiber technologies and water treatment and other separation membrane technologies.

Harnessing its polymer technology enabled the company to create a porous carbon fiber with uniformly continuous pores and carbon. It is possible to set nano- through micro-level pore sizes for porous structures. Another possibility is to create a hollow fiber-shaped porous carbon fiber in the center of a fiber.Prospective applications leveraging the excellent adsorption of Toray’s new material include electrode materials and catalyst carriers (base substances for fixing other substances) in high-performance batteries.

Toray will open its R&D Innovation Center for the Future in December this year. The new facility will serve as a global headquarters for strategic innovations by engaging with academic institutions and key partners from diverse fields. The company will collaborate with several partners in efforts leveraging its new material in a drive to commercialize more advanced gas separation membranes.

Under the Toray Group Sustainability Vision, the company looks to keep developing technologies that help materialize low-carbon economies by 2050 by contributing to resolutions of environmental, resources, and energy issues.

Source:TORAY

IEEE WIE Forum USA East Nov 21-23,ARLINGTON

The 5th Annual IEEE WIE Forum USA East Event will be held on November 21-23,2019 at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in Arlington, VA , which will focus on developing and improving leadership skills and driving innovation for individuals at all stages of their careers. Attendees will have the opportunity to be educated, inspired, and empowered by presentations given by successful leaders, attend workshops, network with peers, learn ways to kickstart programs which excite and inspire the women engineers of the future. Registration Fee: 390 USD REGISTER @ https://lnkd.in/fHyCZri PATRONS SPONSORSHIP: An innovative selection of sponsorship packages have been put together for our 2019 program,ranging from Diamond $10K- Silver$1.5K level. CAREER FAIR (Nov 22) It is open to all technical career fields including (but not limited to) Aerospace Engg,Computer Engg ,Computer Science, Cyber Security, Data Scientists, Electrical Engg, Engg Management, Info Tech, Mechanical Engg,Manufacturing, and R & D. For Companies to be part of the fair it is only 600 dollars.A table and small area will be provided for companies to screen and do onsite recruitment. Discount:Contact me for special discount. Contact:Neeta Basantkumar Theordore (ateenjar@ieee.org)

New Method to Synthesize Degradable Polymers for Medical Applications

MIT chemists have devised a way to synthesize polymers that can break down more readily in the body and in the environment.

Ring-opening Metathesis Polymerization

A chemical reaction called ring-opening metathesis polymerization, or ROMP, is handy for building novel polymers for various uses such as nanofabrication, high-performance resins, and delivering drugs or imaging agents. However, one downside to this synthesis method is that the resulting polymers do not naturally break down in natural environments, such as inside the body.

Making Polymers More Degradable

The MIT research team has come up with a way to make those polymers more degradable by adding a novel type of building block to the backbone of the polymer. This new building block, or monomer, forms chemical bonds that can be broken down by weak acids, bases, and ions such as fluoride.

“We believe that this is the first general way to produce ROMP polymers with facile degradability under biologically relevant conditions,” says Jeremiah Johnson, an associate professor of chemistry at MIT and the senior author of the study. “The nice part is that it works using the standard ROMP workflow; you just need to sprinkle in the new monomer, making it very convenient.”

This building block could be incorporated into polymers for a wide variety of uses, including not only medical applications but also synthesis of industrial polymers that would break down more rapidly after use, the researchers say.

Non-degradability: The Issue at Hand

The most common building blocks of ROMP-generated polymers are molecules called norbornenes, which contain a ring structure that can be easily opened and strung together to form polymers. Molecules such as drugs or imaging agents can be added to norbornenes before the polymerization occurs.

Johnson’s lab has used this synthesis approach to create polymers with many different structures, including linear polymers, bottlebrush polymers, and star-shaped polymers. These novel materials could be used for delivering many cancer drugs at once or carrying imaging agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other types of imaging.

“It’s a very robust and powerful polymerization reaction,” Johnson says. “But one of the big downsides is that the backbone of the polymers produced entirely consists of carbon-carbon bonds, and as a result, the polymers are not readily degradable. That’s always been something we’ve kept in the backs of our minds when thinking about making polymers for the biomaterials space.”

Smaller Polymers, Easy Degradation

To circumvent that issue, Johnson’s lab has focused on developing small polymers, on the order of about 10 nanometers in diameter, which could be cleared from the body more easily than larger particles. Other chemists have tried to make the polymers degradable by using building blocks other than norbornenes, but these building blocks don’t polymerize as efficiently. It’s also more difficult to attach drugs or other molecules to them, and they often require harsh conditions to degrade.

“We prefer to continue to use norbornene as the molecule that enables us to polymerize these complex monomers,” Johnson says. “The dream has been to identify another type of monomer and add it as a co-monomer into a polymerization that already uses norbornene.”

The New Possible Solution

The researchers came upon a possible solution through work Shieh was doing on another project. He was looking for new ways to trigger drug release from polymers, when he synthesized a ring-containing molecule that is like norbornene but contains an oxygen-silicon-oxygen bond. The researchers discovered that this kind of ring, called a silyl ether, can also be opened and polymerized with the ROMP reaction, leading to polymers with oxygen-silicon-oxygen bonds that degrade more easily. Thus, instead of using it for drug release, the researchers decided to try to incorporate it into the polymer backbone to make it degradable.

They found that by simply adding the silyl-ether monomer in a 1:1 ratio with norbornene monomers, they could create similar polymer structures to what they have previously made, with the new monomer incorporated fairly uniformly throughout the backbone. But now, when exposed to a slightly acidic pH, around 6.5, the polymer chain begins to break apart.

“It’s quite simple,” Johnson says. “It’s a monomer we can add to widely used polymers to make them degradable. But as simple as that is, examples of such an approach are surprisingly rare.”

Faster Breakdown

In tests in mice, the researchers found that during the first week or two, the degradable polymers showed the same distribution through the body as the original polymers, but they began to break down soon after that. After six weeks, the concentrations of the new polymers in the body were between three and 10 times less than the concentrations of the original polymers, depending on the exact chemical composition of the silyl-ether monomers that the researchers used.

The findings suggest that adding this monomer to polymers for drug delivery or imaging could help them get cleared from the body more quickly.

Tuning the Breakdown of ROMP-based Polymers

“We are excited about the prospect of using this technology to precisely tune the breakdown of ROMP-based polymers in biological tissues, which we believe could be leveraged to control biodistribution, drug release kinetics, and many other features,” Johnson says.

The researchers have also started working on adding the new monomers to industrial resins, such as plastics or adhesives. They believe it would be economically feasible to incorporate these monomers into the manufacturing processes of industrial polymers, to make them more degradable, and they are working with Millipore-Sigma to commercialize this family of monomers and make them available for research.

Source: MIT

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New Process to Develop Bio-based Polyamide Using Terpenes

The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB is using a new, recently patented process to develop new polyamides from the terpene 3-carene, a residual material from the cellulose industry. The biobased polyamides Caramid-R® and Caramid-S® produced using this process represent a new class of polyamides with outstanding thermal properties. The production of the monomer for Caramid-S® was already successfully piloted in a 100-liter scale. The Fraunhofer researchers are presenting the new polyamides at the K trade fair (Hall 7.0, Stand SC01).

From Wood Waste to High-performance Polymers

The Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB has developed a sustainable alternative to petrochemically produced plastics using terpenes found in resin-rich wood. The natural substances are available from conifers such as pine, larch or spruce. In the production of pulp, in which wood is broken down to separate the cellulose fibers, the terpenes are isolated in large quantities as a by-product, turpentine oil.

In the joint project “TerPa – Terpenes as building blocks for biobased polyamides” funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the German Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR), researchers of Fraunhofer IGB, Bio, Electro and Chemocatalysis BioCat, Straubing branch have succeeded in optimizing the synthesis of lactams from 3-carene and the subsequent polymerization to Caramid-R® and Caramid-S®, representatives of a new class of terpene-based polyamides. Recently, a patent was granted for the synthesis process of the new polyamides from terpenes.

One-pot Reaction Scale-up to 100 Liters

The conversion of 3-carene to the corresponding lactam is possible in four successive chemical reactions that require neither complex production facilities nor expensive reagents. The key steps to the polymer building blocks 3S- and 3R-caranlactam are the selective production of the intermediate 3S-caranketone and its selective rearrangement to the isomeric 3R-caranketone.

The special feature is that the conversions can take place as a one-vessel reaction sequence in a single reactor. "This offers the possibility to produce the lactams also in simple plants without a complex reactor cascade. It is not necessary to purify the intermediate products," explains Paul Stockmann, who developed and optimized the promising process.

The synthesis of the monomer for Caramid-S® has now been scaled to the 100-liter scale at the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP, the Leuna branch of Fraunhofer IGB. "In this pilot production, we produced several kilograms of monomer, which allows the polymerization to be scaled to the kilogram scale," says Dr. Harald Strittmatter, who heads the TerPa project.

Excellent Thermal Properties

The chemical structure of the natural substance 3-carene, which has barely been used commercially to date and would be very difficult to access from petrochemical feedstocks, leads to new polyamides that contain cyclic structures along the polymer chain. Due to these rings and other substituents, Caramid-S® and Caramid-R® have exceptional thermal properties compared to standard polyamides: The softening temperatures (glass transition) are above 110 °C.

Caranlactams Expand Functional Properties Of Standard Polyamides
In addition, the scientists have converted the biobased lactams to copolymers with other commercially available monomers – laurolactam for PA12 and caprolactam for PA6. This enables the possibility of changing the properties such as the transparency of the polyamides PA6 and PA12, thus extending their application profile.

Currently, the Fraunhofer scientists are working on further improvements of the monomer synthesis which is essential for an economically viable polyamide. Furthermore, they are investigating the properties of the polymers in detail to identify potential applications and implement commercial use of the biopolyamides together with industrial partners.

Source: Fraunhofer Institute for IGB