Korea sets out to seize lead in hydrogen energy

After a decade of dragging its feet, the South Korean government has come up with a set of measures to nurture an ecosystem for hydrogen vehicles, seeking a transition from fossil fuels to zero emission energy.For more than a decade, the state drive for a hydrogen economy has been sidelined, due to policy inconsistencies through different administrations and a global preference for batteries over fuel cells.

Amid problems of energy intermittency being addressed over renewables, however, interest in the potential role of hydrogen in South Korea’s de-carbonization has grown. 

In June, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy announced a 2.6 trillion won plan to supply 16,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles and build 310 hydrogen refilling stations across the country. Under the five-year plan, businesses are expected to get state support for the development of fuel cell stacks and fuel cell storage containers, as well as tax breaks for hydrogen vehicle drivers. 

The announcement is a follow-up to a pan-industrial alliance launched in April. The ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with local automakers, state-run utilities companies and related organizations to establish a special purpose company to build hydrogen fueling stations in major cities and on highways.

Park Jong-won, of the automobiles and aviation department of the Ministry of Industry, sees hydrogen and battery-powered vehicles (EVs) as complementary, not rivals.

Although there are only 170 hydrogen powered vehicles currently registered here, he expects that to reach 15,000 by 2022 –the same order of magnitude as the current number of EVs.For EVs, which now have a head-start on hydrogen, the ministry also expects the number registered in South Korea to grow, from 25,500 to 350,000 over the same period. 

“The technology of electric vehicles has become widely available now, but that of hydrogen cars are still in an infant stage and there should be more basic infrastructure like refilling stations (to buttress its growth),” he said. 

Both hydrogen and battery-powered vehicles are electrically driven and have no carbon emissions -- qualities sought after by most advanced economies to minimize the use of gas or diesel in order to curb pollutants. Hybrids and plug in hybrids are also considered eco-friendly, using electric power to reduce the emissions from their regular diesel or gasoline engines.

The difference between hydrogen cars and EVs is that the latter are charged with electricity externally, while hydrogen powered cars generate energy by converting the chemical energy of hydrogen by reacting hydrogen with oxygen in a fuel cell. Aside from the difference in where the electricity comes from, the charging time for hydrogen vehicles is shorter than that of EVs, while a single charge gives a longer driving distance.

There are only a handful of commercial hydrogen vehicles in the market that include the world’s first Hyundai Tucson ix35 FCEV along with the Toyota Mirai and the Honda Clarity. Hyundai has also recently unveiled the newest flagship Nexo this year.

“Currently, South Korea is one of the leading countries in fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) technology which is yet taking a small portion both in domestic and global market,” said Ryan Lee, principal analyst at IHS Markit. 

“However, the investment will accelerate popularizing FCEVs with more realistic numbers of charging infrastructure (only 11 FC charging stations in Korea currently) and sufficient subsidy support,” he said.

But the South Korean government’s focus appears to be limited to auto industry and is far from comprehensive, experts say

In a hydrogen economy, vehicles would play a crucial part. But more comprehensive work has to be carried out -- such as building nationwide networks of energy supply and storage system, which cost a lot of money and require a high level of technology.

Japan has also been active in hydrogen. 

By 2020, the year the country hosts the Tokyo Olympics, Japan plans to increase the number of hydrogen-powered vehicles by 40,000 units and 800,000 units by 2030. Under its 2014 road map toward a hydrogen economy, not only carmakers that have already succeeded in commercial production of fuel-cell electric vehicles, but also other traditional industrial players -- energy firms, steelmakers and shipbuilders -- have formed an alliance to switch to hydrogen energy.

Japan has currently 97 hydrogen filling stations across the country. The number is set to grow to 160 by 2020 and 900 by 2030. Under its grand plan, Japan will build massive electrolysis plants in Australia and the Middle East, and transport them back to Japan on vessels designed to store and carry hydrogen.

Germany has also set a long-term project in 2007 to take the lead in fuel cell technology, while participating in a joint project by EU-member countries aimed at testing efficiencies of hydrogen-powered vehicles and pushing for the commercialization of the green cars. By 2023, Germany plans to operate 650,000 fuel cell electric vehicles and 1.8 million by 2030.

South Korea had also set a master plan in 2005 aimed at increasing the portion of hydrogen-based energy to 15 percent.

Since the late 90s, the government has supported R&D projects initiated by the local carmaker Hyundai to develop hydrogen-powered cars. President Roh Moo-hyun was an ardent hydrogen supporter, according to sources, citing an exchange between him and Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo when the former was in power. Roh reportedly had told the corporate mogul that he would “fully support” the carmaker’s hydrogen project, after taking a ride on a fuel cell vehicle prototype back then.

The power transfer from the liberal to the conservative government led by former President Lee Myung-bak in 2007, however, brought a dark age for hydrogen projects, an industry insider who declined to be named. Instead, Lee promoted the nation’s strength in nuclear energy, curbing the state drive toward hydrogen. Lee himself played a crucial part in signing $40 billion nuclear deal with UAE.

Also, the political shift in US from the Bush administration to Obama was a setback for Korea’s hydrogen drive, said Cho Sang-min, head of new energy development team at Korea Energy Economics Institute.

“President Bush paid keen interest in hydrogen energy, but Obama didn’t. After he took office, the market interest in hydrogen also simmered down, deeply affecting policymakers in South Korea,” he said.

As the government turned a cold shoulder to hydrogen power, projects at small and medium-sized companies died, but some projects pushed by wealthy conglomerates survived. 

To take a lead in the uncharted market of hydrogen vehicles, Hyundai spent more than 20 years and succeeded in developing the world’s first fuel cell electric car, the Tucson ix35. Posco and Doosan both invested in fuel-cell production, but reports say that Posco's energy arm is considering shutting down its fuel-cell business. 

Along with inconsistent government policies, the absence of hydrogen-related law, safety concerns and lack of public awareness add to uncertainty over whether the hydrogen business can turn profitable, experts noted.

And there is another fundamental issue that needs addressing: Where will the hydrogen come from?

Even though local petrochemical plants produce a considerable amount of hydrogen, it is mostly used as a desulfurizing agent to generate high-value added petroleum products, and none of them has plans to supply them as a new energy source. Gas companies are reportedly reviewing the economic feasibility of investing in hydrogen production, but they are still reluctant.“It is difficult for Korean companies to invest in a sector that has no infrastructure to begin with. The government needs to ensure them that it is a new market to be created,” an industry insider declined to be named.

Despite the 2.6 trillion won plan, the government feels pressure to go on with hydrogen due to its complexity.

“Energy transition from fossil fuels to hydrogen is more complex, more than many would think,” Ahn Kook-young, chairman of the Korean Hydrogen and New Energy Society, stressing that the transition is equivalent of the introduction of the internal combustion engine in the 19th century’s.

“Building hydrogen infrastructure will take years of effort, money and political consideration,” he said. It cost around 3 billion won to build a hydrogen refilling station, compared to 200 million won for a gasoline station, he added.

Still, South Korea keeping its hydrogen dream has a point.

“The world of hydrogen is still unknown, but we are standing on the path toward the hydrogen economy,” said Shin Jae-haeng, the head of H2Korea, a think tank under the Ministry of Energy.“The government is determined to complete its goal on climate change to comply with the global consensus on reducing emission.”

The Moon Jae-in administration’s nuclear phase-out policy in October was widely expected to include some support for hydrogen power. But last year, hydrogen was not mentioned when President Moon vowed to slowly end nuclear power.For businesses, particularly conventional ones facing pressures to cut down CO2 emissions, a transition to a hydrogen economy could secure their survival.

“To keep its hegemony in the market, carmakers will continue to develop (hydrogen technology). So too, the government, (will push the drive) to keep jobs (in the traditional industries),” said Im Eun-young, an analyst at Samsung Securities and Investment.

Source:Korean Herald

New Light-sensitive Polymer Material with Reversibly Switching Topology

MIT researchers have designed a polymer material that can change its structure in response to light, converting from a rigid substance to a softer one that can heal itself when damaged.

Ability to Heal After Being Damaged:

The material consists of polymers attached to a light-sensitive molecule that can be used to alter the bonds formed within the material. Such materials could be used to coat objects such as cars or satellites, giving them the ability to heal after being damaged, though such applications are still far in the future, Johnson says.

“You can switch the material states back and forth, and in each of those states, the material acts as though it were a completely different material, even though it’s made of all the same components,” says Jeremiah Johnson, an associate professor of chemistry at MIT, a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the Program in Polymers and Soft Matter, and the leader of the research team.

The lead author of the paper, which appears in the July 18 issue of Nature, is MIT graduate student Yuwei Gu. Other authors are MIT graduate student Eric Alt, MIT assistant professor of chemistry Adam Willard, and Heng Wang and Xiaopeng Li of the University of South Florida.

Controlled Structure

Many of the properties of polymers, such as their stiffness and their ability to expand, are controlled by their topology — how the components of the material are arranged. Usually, once a material is formed, its topology cannot be changed reversibly. For example, a rubber ball remains elastic and cannot be made brittle without changing its chemical composition.

Different Topological States

In this paper, the researchers wanted to create a material that could reversibly switch between two different topological states, which has not been done before.

Johnson and his colleagues realized that a type of material they designed a few years ago, known as polymer metal-organic cages, or polyMOCs, was a promising candidate for this approach. PolyMOCs consist of metal-containing, cage-like structures joined together by flexible polymer linkers. The researchers created these materials by mixing polymers attached to groups called ligands, which can bind to a metal atom. 

Rigid Cage-like Clusters

Each metal atom — in this case, palladium — can form bonds with four ligand molecules, creating rigid cage-like clusters with varying ratios of palladium to ligand molecules. Those ratios determine the size of the cages.

In the new study, the researchers set out to design a material that could reversibly switch between two different-sized cages: one with 24 atoms of palladium and 48 ligands, and one with three palladium atoms and six ligand molecules.

To achieve that, they incorporated a light-sensitive molecule called DTE into the ligand. The size of the cages is determined by the angle of bonds that a nitrogen molecule on the ligand forms with palladium. When DTE is exposed to ultraviolet light, it forms a ring in the ligand, which increases the size of the angle at which nitrogen can bond to palladium. This makes the clusters break apart and form larger clusters.

When the researchers shine green light on the material, the ring is broken, the bond angle becomes smaller, and the smaller clusters re-form. The process takes about five hours to complete, and the researchers found they could perform the reversal up to seven times; with each reversal, a small percentage of the polymers fails to switch back, which eventually causes the material to fall apart.

When the material is in the small-cluster state, it becomes up to 10 times softer and more dynamic. “They can flow when heated up, which means you could cut them and upon mild heating that damage will heal,” Johnson says.

This approach overcomes the tradeoff that usually occurs with self-healing materials, which is that structurally they tend to be relatively weak. In this case, the material can switch between the softer, self-healing state and a more rigid state.

“Reversibly switching topology of polymer networks has never been reported before and represents a significant advancement in the field,” says Sergei Sheiko, a professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina, who was not involved in the research. “Without changing network composition, photoswitchable ligands enable remotely activated transition between two topological states possessing distinct static and dynamic properties.”

Self-healing Materials:

In this paper, the researchers used the polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG) to make their material, but they say this approach could be used with any kind of polymer. Potential applications include self-healing materials, although for this approach to be widely used, palladium, a rare and expensive metal, would likely have to be replaced by a cheaper alternative.

“Anything made from plastic or rubber, if it could be healed when it was damaged, then it wouldn’t have to be thrown away. Maybe this approach would provide materials with longer life cycles,” Johnson says.

Another possible application for these materials is drug delivery. Johnson believes it could be possible to encapsulate drugs inside the larger cages, then expose them to green light to make them open up and release their contents. Applying green light could enable recapture of the drugs, providing a novel approach to reversible drug delivery.

The researchers are also working on creating materials that can reversibly switch from a solid state to a liquid state, and on using light to create patterns of soft and rigid sections within the same material.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

BASF Further Develops Hydrolysis-resistant Polyesters for Automotive Industry

The demand of the automotive industry for highly effective sensors for the expansion of electric mobility and autonomous driving is increasing. So BASF has further developed its range of hydrolysis-resistant thermoplastic polyesters.

Expanded Range of Ultradur® HR

The expanded range of Ultradur® HR (HR= hydrolysis resistant) comprises Ultradur® B4330 G6 HR High Speed, a particularly flowable and laser markable grade with 30% glass-fiber reinforcement, Ultradur® B4330 G10 HR, a highly reinforced grade with 50% glass fibers as well as Ultradur® B4331 G6 HR, the next generation with optimized processing characteristics. Ultradur® B4331 G6 HR is available from now on as uncolored grade, in a black laser markable version, and in orange for components in electric cars.

Highly Resistant PBT Materials

With its Ultradur® HR grades, BASF offers highly resistant PBT materials (PBT= polybutylene terephthalate) which are especially suitable for use in challenging environments. They thus enable a long service life and an excellent operational reliability of automotive components. The HR grades also have a considerably increased resistance to alkaline media which trigger stress corrosion cracking.

This is also true of the new Ultradur® B4331 G6 HR grade with considerably improved melt stability and flowability. In tests, Ultradur® B4331 G6 HR does not display any increase in viscosity even with long residence times and at high temperatures - the best basis for stable and easy processing. The material can also be colored in orange (RAL 2003) in order to produce high-voltage plug-in connectors for electric cars. Thanks to the unusually high tracking resistance for PBT, the plug-in connectors can be designed smaller and still withstand the higher voltages in electric vehicles. Thus savings on costs and component weight are possible.

Laser-markable Grade

The Ultradur® 4330 G6 HR series which is already available with 30% glass-fiber reinforcement has been expanded to include the particularly flowable and laser-markable Ultradur® B4330 G6 HR High Speed bk15045. With this grade, thin-walled parts and components which show a high ratio of flow path to wall thickness can easily be produced.

The new Ultradur® B4330 G10 HR is filled with 50% glass fibers. It can therefore be processed to components which are simultaneously exposed to moisture and high temperatures (160°C, short term up to 180°C) and keep a high stiffness, e.g. steering modules in the charge air duct. In the temperature range from 140°C to 180°C, the material reaches almost the property level of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), which is usually employed in this kind of applications.

Developed for Selected Automotive Applications

For selected automotive applications BASF has developed Ultradur® B4450 G5 HR. The PBT is reinforced with 25% glass fibers, RoHS-compliant and flame retardant. It can be colored in light colors and laser-printed. With its low fogging values according to the VDA 278 emission test, it is suitable for applications in car interiors and also for housings of control units.

The newly developed material combines hydrolysis resistance with flame retardancy, high tracking resistance and low smoke density. This property profile is also aimed at electric vehicles with their considerable safety requirements and much higher currents than in conventional drive trains.

Since the market launch, BASF has developed around a dozen HR-modified Ultradur® grades, with 15%, 30% and 50% glass-fiber reinforcement, particularly flowable, impact-modified, laser markable, laser transparent or flame-retardant. Typical applications can be found primarily in automotive electronics, e.g. housings of control units, connectors, sensors, but also charging plugs, housings of battery stacks or connectors in the high-voltage circuit of electric cars.

Source: BASF

INEOS Styrolution’s SAN Grades Earn Chinese National GB Food Contact Accreditation

INEOS Styrolution has announced that two of its Luran styrene acrylonitrile copolymers (SAN) grades, Luran SAN C 552495 and Luran SAN C NR, are in compliance with GB 4806.6-2016 (Chinese National Food Safety Standard on Food-Contact Use of Plastic Resins), the additives used are cleared under GB 9685-2016 (Chinese National Food Safety Standard on Use of Additives in Food Contact Materials and Articles). These grades are also compliant with USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Union (EU) food contact regulations.

SAN Plastic Compliant with Food Contact Regulations

Key Points

Material of Choice for Processing, Design & Safety

• The Luran product line from INEOS Styrolution provides outstanding surface quality, excellent transparency and food contact compliance, enabling the creation of products that are aesthetically pleasant, durable and safe for daily household use. 
• Luran SAN C 552495 and Luran SAN C NR exhibit well-balanced property profiles, good chemical resistance and superior processability for demanding injection molding applications. 
• The low residual monomer levels exhibited in these two grades is also the result of an upgrading project completed in 2017 at INEOS Styrolution’s SAN production lines in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, bringing on the advantage of improved food contact safety, particularly for the household industry, which requires food contact compliance for their finished products.

A Versatile & Cost-effective Solution

• A trusted material with excellent property retention, INEOS Styrolution’s various Luran grades are currently used in various household applications such as water filters, mixers and blenders, cosmetics jars and coffee machine water containers.

Advance Application Innovation in Household Industry

Sven Riechers, Vice President, Specialties Business Management, Asia Pacific, INEOS Styrolution, said:
“With the increasing tightening of plastic food contact safety compliance regulations globally, INEOS Styrolution collaborates closely with our partners to continuously renew, improve and differentiate our portfolio and services to generate further value for our customers in the household industry. We are currently working on the other grades in our food contact range to achieve compliance with Chinese National GB food contact regulations.”
 
Source: INEOS Styrolution

Avantium Opens Pilot Biorefinery for Plant-based Chemicals Production

Avantium had announced that it will officially open a pilot biorefinery in Delfzijl, Netherlands next month. Opening ceremonies took place in Amsterdam on 10 July and in Delfzijl will take place on 13 July.

Avantium’s Novel Technologies:

Avantium develops novel technologies that uses renewable carbon sources instead of fossil resources, such as DAWN Technology. It aims to make the most efficient use of biomass and eliminating waste streams. All biomass constituents are separated into a range of products and the goal is to get the greatest possible value out of these products. This is called cascading. 

DAWN Technology is an innovative process that converts plant-based non-food feedstock to high purity industrial sugars and lignin. The industrial sugars are used in chemistry and fermentation processes to produce a broad range of durable materials, while lignin is used in energy generation. 

Dawn Technology’s Products:

The DAWN Technology biorefinery produces three main product streams: 

1. Glucose: DAWN Technology is differentiated from other technologies in its ability to produce high purity glucose. There is no source of high purity glucose from non-food, plant-based feedstock commercially available today. 

2. Mixed sugars: In addition to glucose, the mixed sugar stream contains a number of other valuable sugars such as xylose, mannose and galactose. Mixed sugars are suitable as feedstock for fermentation processes used to make products such as ethanol, vitamins and acetic acid. 

3. Lignin: Lignin is the compound that is left once the sugars have been taken out of the original raw material. It is more efficient for energy generation as its energy content is up to 40% higher than the original wood chips used in the process. Energy generation is currently the predominant 
application for lignin. Additional higher value applications are being developed. 

The technology uses acid to selectively separate the sugar streams from the feedstock material (i.e. the agricultural or forestry residues). Avantium’s proprietary inventions reduce water consumption by 70% with significantly reduced energy consumption. This not only manages the environmental footprint of the process but also improves the cost profile of the resulting products. 

The objective of the pilot biorefinery is to scale up the technology, validate the economics, and further optimize the technology and application development. 

The Core Building Block

Glucose is a core building block for many industrial products and is increasingly important in the transition towards a bio-based economy. All materials made from petroleum today (examples are bottles, t-shirts and carpets) can be replaced with materials made from glucose. This would reduce reliance on petroleum, mitigate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and help tackle climate change. Today, glucose is predominantly produced from food sources such as corn, wheat, sugar beet and sugar cane. 

DAWN Technology unlocks the glucose available in non-food agricultural and forestry residues such as wood chips, wheat straw or corn stover. 

Transitioning towards Circular Economy

Tom van Aken, Chief Executive Officer of Avantium, said: “We are thrilled to open our pilot biorefinery, which will enable the use of non-food biomass, such as forestry residue, to make many products people use every day. This is a milestone in our work to support the transition to a circular economy, and we are already looking beyond the pilot phase. We have a consortium of partners committed to developing a commercial-scale plant.”

Avantium's Biorefinery will use forestry residue to produce  useful products

Right Partners Tapping into Expertise

Avantium previously announced it had founded a consortium to develop an ecosystem for the biorefinery technology. The consortium consists of AkzoNobel, RWE, Staatsbosbeheer and Chemport Europe, each of which brings specific expertise for the planned commercial scale bio-refinery.

“We have gathered the right partners to tap into local expertise, utilities and infrastructure for the future commercial scale-up of our technology in the Netherlands,” said Van Aken. “Other potential partners around the world have also expressed interest in licensing our technology for local deployment, to make glucose from a wide variety of feedstocks.”

Replacing Petroleum Products

Gert-Jan Gruter, Chief Technology Officer of Avantium, said: “Glucose is a core building block for the transition towards a bio-based economy. We can replace all materials made from petroleum today with materials made from glucose. Our technology makes optimal use of already available agricultural and forestry residues.”
Patrick Brouns, regional minister of the province of Groningen, said: “We are happy to welcome Avantium to Delfzijl. They bring innovation, green chemistry and highly skilled jobs to the region and fit well with the existing local chemistry, energy and agricultural sectors “We are happy to welcome Avantium to Delfzijl. They bring innovation, green chemistry and highly skilled jobs to the region and fit well with the existing local chemistry, energy and agricultural sectors and the knowledge institutions. With Chemport Europe we also support the future commercialscale biorefinery in Delfzijl.” 

Source: Avantium

Business Growth in Polymer Industry via Problem Solving; OCT 2-4, Atlanta

This UN-RIVALED course attended by 500+ participants is designed to help those involved in the following functions:

• Technical Service / Trouble Shooting in Polymer Industry
• R&D & Processing-Polymers
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Below we present some examples:

• EXAMPLE #1of 50+: During occasional longer breaks, the extruder froze resulting in lengthy tear-downs & cleaning, thus adversely affecting the productivity. "Melt-Polycondensation" was established as the root-cause. Rather than changing the “near Impossible” manufacturing process for the problem-polymer, a change in lubricant system with an unexpected catalytic effect, solved the problem. The Case-History leading to $10M+ in preserved business will be discussed including technical fundamentals & product development.

• EXAMPLE #2 of 50+: Fine particle CALCIUM CARBONATE is a popular filler for polyolefins and PVC and it has to be coated with stearic acid (SA). More than a monolayer coating can lead to extruder die-lip build up and especially adhesion problems. Following a customer driven project, a ToF-SIMS investigation in 2008 revealed that the “Desired-Bound SA” was chemically reacted on the surface of CaCO3 which allowed us to quantify & reduce/eliminate the undesirable “Un-Bound SA”; thus resulting in better product development and cost savings resulting from usage of lesser SA additive.

EXAMPLE #3 of 50+: Challenged by a sale at stake led to the discovery of reactor induced memory in NYLONS after 50 years of their existence. This led to a proliferation of ideas for technical marketing; signing of a $37M/year contract being just one outcome !
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ANTIBACTERIAL PLASTIC SHEET HAS BEEN INSTALLED IN ENDOSCOPY CABIN IN INDIA

Antibacterial plastic sheet has been installed successfully in Endoscopy cabin in a well known hospital in India.It is another milestone in penetrating into the market where only conventional methods/process has been widely encouraged so far.

Now i have started getting orders for Hospitals now.I started this project in 2004 and have partnered with an European manufacturer in 2009 and here in 2018, after passing our samples in various countries for different applications and now we are getting orders slowly.

We have reached this level with the help of my indomitable will thru out all these years.