Indian Budget 2021: Hydrogen mission; solar energy, clean air among focus areas:

 Centre’s clean air programme got a shot in the arm with Sitharaman announcing a fund of ₹2,217 crore for air pollution control in 42 cities.

The Centre will launch a Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating hydrogen from green power sources. Finance minister announcement of a hydrogen mission could go a long way in reducing India’s carbon footprint, experts said.

According to a report titled “The Potential Role of Hydrogen in India – Harnessing the Hype” by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) released in December last year, demand for hydrogen could increase by at least 5-fold by 2050, continuing to grow in the second half of the century in India.

Demand for hydrogen is at around 6 metric tonne (MT) per annum, mainly from industry sectors, such as fertilizers and refineries. This can increase to around 28 MT by 2050 mainly due to cost reductions in key technologies and a push to reduce carbon footprint. Demand will mainly grow in steel and road transport, shipping and aviation sectors. The report also projected that India would require 40 MT of green hydrogen to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2060.

Source:Hindustan Times

Red Bull collaborates in the creation of hydrogen prototype for Le Mans

 The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) announced a brand new partnership between Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT) and ORECA to collaborate on the chassis concept that will underpin all the prototypes in the future hydrogen class at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Both firms have a keen interest in the ACO’s hydrogen program which includes the creation of a distinct hydrogen class in 2024, and so teamed up for the first time in their history in a joint bid. ORECA will draw on its expertise of its Design Office and its production skills as well as its endurance racing knowledge and experience, while RBAT will bring its expertise in racing car design, very much focused on aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics, simulation and energy recovery optimization.

The initial task for the partners will be to undertake and provide a detailed feasibility study for the vehicle concept. RBAT and ORECA thus join Plastic Omnium, the exclusive supplier of the hydrogen prototype fuel tanks ultimately for the cars set to make their Endurance debut in 2024.

“This exciting announcement confirms the appeal of Mission H24 and offers a promising future for zero-carbon motor racing and hydrogen prototypes. Thanks to ORECA, a mainstay of the 24 Hours of Le Mans for many years, and Red Bull Advanced Technologies, a successful motorsport business, the ACO will benefit from extensive endurance racing experience combined with cutting-edge technology to guarantee outstanding performance in its hydrogen class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024. This partnership confirms that the ACO has made the right decisions for the future of motorsport and underscores our ambition for zero-carbon racing for future generations. We’re delighted to welcome ORECA and Red Bull Advanced Technologies alongside Plastic Omnium. Having these top-flight automotive firms on board is likely to draw even more interest from car manufacturers, especially those who regularly contribute to our hydrogen working group. We are living in difficult times but the ACO is resolutely pursuing its route towards zero-carbon racing and mobility,” said Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest.

Red Bull Advanced Technologies CEO Christian Horner commented: “I am delighted that we have been chosen by the ACO along with our partners ORECA to develop the concept of a hydrogen powered endurance racing car for Le Mans.  Red Bull Advanced Technologies are well qualified to take on the challenge set by the ACO having access to many of the tools used to design and develop the Red Bull Racing F1 car, along with significant experience on other cutting edge vehicle programs. The Hydrogen Class at Le Mans offers an exciting glimpse into the future of sustainable motorsport and promises both to advance the use of hydrogen in transportation, and will also deliver exciting racing.”

Hugues de Chaunac, président du Groupe ORECA added: “We are proud that the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has chosen us to work alongside Red Bull Advanced Technologies on this ambitious, forward-looking project. And we are excited to be working with the other project partners, among them Plastic Omnium and Green GT. Collaboration is vital if we are to succeed in introducing a hydrogen class at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

Source: 24H Le Mans

HYSLAND: Calvera collaborates in green hydrogen project in Mallorca

 The entry of the Grupo Industrial Calvera into the HYSLAND project, promoted by a consortium made up of 30 partners from 11 countries, will reinforce what is undoubtedly one of the largest green hydrogen initiatives in Spain and Europe. With a global budget of more than 50 million euros and a European Commission’s contribution of 10 million euros through the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), HYSLAND aims to create a true green hydrogen ecosystem in the Balearic Islands during the next five years, involving numerous economic sectors to become the reference project in this field in southern Europe.

HYSLAND, which is coordinated by Enagás and also includes other prominent players such as Acciona, comprises a broad set of actions and infrastructures that will revolve around the production, distribution and use of more than 300 tons of renewable hydrogen per year, generated from photovoltaic solar technology. This will be used for the supply of bus fleets, rental vehicles or ferries, the generation of heat and electricity for public buildings, commercial and port services, the injection of hydrogen into existing infrastructures to decarbonize the supply of gas or the construction of a hydrogen station, with an estimated global reduction of more than 20,000 tons in Mallorca’s annual CO2 emissions.

Calvera’s participation in this project is part of its commitment to green hydrogen and is strategic, since the Aragon-based company will launch the first mobile renewable hydrogen pipeline in Spain, which will allow it to optimize this fuel in a short period of time, as well as the future possibility of scaling its flow of distribution.

It is a large-scale distribution project, using two mobile high pressure (HP) gas pipelines and fixed solutions in each of the consumption points specifically designed for this purpose by Calvera to optimize distributed use to the different consumption points. A virtual gas pipeline will transfer the hydrogen from the production site to the hydrogen station of the municipal transport company where it will be supplied. The second pipeline, with smaller modules, will bring green hydrogen closer to consumers with lower consumption rates, such as the port of Mallorca, the Lloseta City Council or a hotel on the island.

This project will give a lot to talk about in the coming years, by making an economic system based on green hydrogen a reality with direct applications that will benefit people, companies, public entities and the natural environment of Mallorca.

Source: Gasnam / Calvera

Efficient Way to Develop Biodegradable PHB Using Leftover Sewage Sludge

 In a new study, Texas A&M University researchers have uncovered an efficient way to use leftover sludge to make biodegradable plastics. The researchers report that the bacterium Zobellella denitrificans ZD1, found in mangroves, can consume sludge and wastewater to produce polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a type of biopolymer that can be used in lieu of petroleum-based plastics.

New Way to Cut Down Upstream Costs for Bioplastics

In addition to reducing the burden on landfills and the environment, the researchers said Zobellella denitrificans ZD1 offers a way to cut down upstream costs for bioplastics manufacturing, a step toward making them more competitively priced against regular plastics.

“The price of raw materials to cultivate biopolymer-producing bacteria accounts for 25-45% of the total production cost of manufacturing bioplastics. Certainly, this cost can be greatly reduced if we can tap into an alternate resource that is cheaper and readily obtainable,” said Kung-Hui (Bella) Chu, professor in the Zachry department of civil and environmental engineering. “We have demonstrated a potential way to use municipal wastewater-activated sludge and agri- and aqua-culture industrial wastewater to make biodegradable plastics. Furthermore, the bacterial strain does not require elaborate sterilization processes to prevent contamination from other microbes, further cutting down operating and production costs of bioplastics.”

Rummaging Through Bacterial Strains to Produce Quality Bioplastics

Polyhydroxybutyrate, an emerging class of bioplastics, is produced by several bacterial species when they experience an imbalance of nutrients in their environment. This polymer acts as the bacteria’s supplemental energy reserves, like fat deposits in animals. An abundance of carbon sources and a depletion of either nitrogen, phosphorous or oxygen, cause bacteria to erratically consume their carbon sources and produce polyhydroxybutyrate as a stress response.

One such medium that can force bacteria to make polyhydroxybutyrate is crude glycerol, a byproduct of biodiesel manufacturing. Crude glycerol is rich in carbon and has no nitrogen, making it a suitable raw material for making bioplastics. However, crude glycerol contains impurities such as fatty acids, salts and methanol, which can prohibit bacterial growth. Like crude glycerol, sludge from wastewater also has many of the same fatty acids and salts. Chu said that the effects of these fatty acids on bacterial growth and, consequently, polyhydroxybutyrate production had not yet been examined.

“There is a multitude of bacterial species that make polyhydroxybutyrate, but only a few that can survive in high-salt environments and even fewer among those strains can produce polyhydroxybutyrate from pure glycerol,” Chu said. “We looked at the possibility of whether these salt-tolerating strains can also grow on crude glycerol and wastewater.”

Testing Polyhydroxybutyrate Production in High Salt Concentration

For their study, Chu and her team chose the Zobellella denitrificans ZD1, whose natural habitat is the salt waters of mangroves. They then tested the growth and the ability of this bacteria to produce polyhydroxybutyrate in pure glycerol. The researchers also repeated the same experiments with other bacterial strains that are known producers of polyhydroxybutyrate. They found that Zobellella denitrificans DZ1 was able to thrive in pure glycerol and produced the maximum amount of polyhydroxybutyrate in proportion to its weight without water.

Next, the team tested the growth and ability of Zobellella denitrificans ZD1 to produce polyhydroxybutyrate in glycerol containing salt and fatty acids. They found that even in these conditions, it produced polyhydroxybutyrate efficiently, even under balanced nutrient conditions. When they repeated the experiments in samples of high-strength synthetic wastewater and wastewater-activated sludge, they found the bacteria was still able to make polyhydroxybutyrate, although at quantities lower than if they were in crude glycerol.

Chu noted that by leveraging Zobellella denitrificans ZD1 tolerance for salty environments, expensive sterilization processes that are normally needed when working with other strains of bacteria could be avoided.

“Zobellella denitrificans ZD1 natural preference for salinity is fantastic because we can, if needed, tweak the chemical composition of the waste by just adding common salts. This environment would be toxic for other strains of bacteria,” Chu said. “So, we are offering a low cost, a sustainable method to make bioplastics and another way to repurpose biowastes that are costly to dispose of.”

Source: Texas A&M University

VTT’s New Technology to Develop Bio-based PEF Plastic Using Citrus Peels

 New technology developed at VTT enables the use of pectin-containing agricultural waste, such as citrus peel and sugar beet pulp, as raw material for bio-based PEF-plastics for replacing fossil-based PET. The carbon footprint of plastic bottles can be lowered by 50% when replacing their raw material of PET with PEF polymers, which also provides a better shelf life for food.

Significant Advantage Over Traditional Means

VTT’s technology has significant advantages for making bio-based PEF plastics. The technology uses a stable intermediate to produce FDCA (2,5-furandicarboxylic acid), one of the monomers of PEF, which enables a highly efficient process. In addition, utilizing pectin-containing waste streams opens new possibilities for the circular economy of plastics.

VTT’s unique scale-up infrastructure from laboratory to pilot scale ensures that this new technology will be brought to a technology readiness level that will allow polymer manufacturers’ easy transition to full scale.

Replacing PET in Food Packaging

PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and other polyesters are being widely used in food packaging, plastic bottles and textiles. Replacing fossil-based PET with plant-based PEF (polyethylene furanoate) polymers can lower the carbon footprint of the products by 50%.

“In the near future, you may buy orange juice in bottles that are made from orange peel. VTT’s novel technology provides a circular approach to using food waste streams for high-performance food packaging material, and at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” shares Professor of Practice Holger Pöhler from VTT.

Moreover, the barrier properties of PEF plastics are better than PETs, meaning that the food products have a longer shelf life. PEF is a fully recyclable and renewable high-performance plastic. Therefore, it opens up possibilities for the industries to reduce waste and to have positive impact on the environment.

Source: VTT

BIOPLASTIC PHA in Bacardi

 A few years ago, forward-thinking employees at Bacardi Ltd. realized they had a problem. Consumers were increasingly fed up with petroleum-based plastics, which contribute to ocean pollution and climate change. Yet that’s exactly what the company was using in the 80 million bottles of spirits it sold each year.

Would it be possible, they wondered, to produce bottles with something less harmful to the environment — and to their own brand?

Now they have an answer. In 2023, Bacardi will start using bottles made with a remarkable new bioplastic called Nodax PHA. Unlike traditional bottles, the new ones will biodegrade in compost piles, special landfills and even the ocean.

It’s an impressive feat of innovation. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite the “silver bullet” the company claims. In fact, the new project shows just how hard it’s going to be to solve the world’s plastic crisis.

Bacardi started thinking seriously about the issue in the mid-2010s, as global public opinion began to fixate on the problem of ocean plastics. Bottles of the type that hold Bacardi’s booze can actually be recycled at a very high rate — in Norway roughly 97% of them are. 

Researchers Convert Waste Plastic into Carbon Nanotubes for Wires

 Researchers at Swansea University are working on a project that changes waste plastics into highly valuable compounds for the energy industries. Scientists are extracting carbon atoms found in waste plastics and turning them into a nanotube format that can be used for the transmission of electricity. They are producing plastic electric cables without the copper wire inside them, which can be used in residential and industrial construction.

Senior Lecturer, Dr. Alvin Orbaek White is leading the research group at the Energy Safety Research 

Institute in Swansea University. Dr. White has already developed an electrical wire made from 

carbon nanotubes from waste plastics that are suitable for electricity and data transmission.

The vision is to advance global energy sustainability by producing long range electricity 

transmission materials from waste plastics.

Dr Orbaek White said, “Converting plastics into useful materials such as carbon nanotubes can be done

 with a large variety of plastics. Our team has expanded the list of problem plastics to include 

PVdC - Polyvinyl chloride, polyesters and polypropylene to name a few.”

Plastics are a resource of carbon and hydrogen, so the key step is in developing methods of chemistry 

and engineering to fashion the carbon and the hydrogen into more useful materials; in this 

case they make graphene, vapor grown carbon fibers and carbon nanotubes.

Testing Range of Plastics for High-quality Materials

Scientists will test a large range of plastics that are problematic for traditional recycling technologies. 

The key philosophy is to seek a solution from within the problem. The grant of £270,000 

will be provided from the Welsh Government’s Circular Economy Fund.

The capital grant will be used to test the electrical and physical properties of the carbon nanotube 

wires, to purchase testing equipment to ensure high quality materials are being produced from

 the plastics and to advance the ability for a closed-loop chemical recycling process. 

This grant is an indicator of the Welsh Government’s long-term strategy of plastic 

recycling in a circular manner.

Transition Towards Efficient Energy Sources

The research tackles two important problems facing the environment: A transition to more efficient,

 cleaner energy resources and providing a new life for waste plastics, keeping them out of land and sea.

Major Challenges for the Researchers

A major challenge facing recovery of plastics is that they often must be downcycled; this new work promising 

a route to upcycling waste materials into value-added, advanced electronics. This is the dream of the

 circular economy, and the research proposed should help get us there.

Carbon based nano materials are used in a variety of applications across the globe, but they are often 

sourced from fossil fuels. It is exciting to think that they may one day be sourced from waste plastics, 

giving those renewed life as advanced materials.

TrimTabs, a Swansea engineering firm creating technology solutions for positive global impact, is collaborating 

on the project and stated, “We are very excited about this research. This kind of fundamental 

science is needed in order to break out of the current recycling loop.”

Source: Swansea University

Spotlight

Maximize the Resistance of Your Polyurethanes Over Time

With UBE's Polycarbonate-based Urethane Prepolymers Series

Read More

Nanoalloy® Technology Improves Impact and Chemical Resistance

See Performance Data and more for Nanoalloys of PBT/PC, PA6, and PPS

Read More

Maximize the Resistance of Your Polyurethanes Over Time

With UBE's Polycarbonate-based Urethane Prepolymers Series

Read More

Nanoalloy® Technology Improves Impact and Chemical Resistance

See Performance Data and more for Nanoalloys of PBT/PC, PA6, and PPS

Read More

1

2

Channel Alerts

Receive weekly digests on hot topics

Receive your alerts

Online Course Recently Added

Latest High Heat Polymer Resins & Applications Advances (2019 Edition)

Get updated on latest high heat plastics developments and explore new ideas to address the growing demand of higher continuous & peak temperatures, better chemical resistance, dimensional...

41

See More Details