Amcor Develops Technology for 50% Lighter PET Bottles

 Taking a quantum leap forward in reducing weight in packaging, Amcor Rigid Packaging (ARP) has developed a revolutionary two-step, lightweighting technology that eliminates more than 50% of the material and weight in the finish of the bottle.

100% Recycled Material Use:

A leader in developing technology that produces more sustainable packaging options, ARP’s new Quantum™ technology for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles delivers sustainability benefits, lowers cost, and improves packaging appearance.

By removing more than 50% of the material and weight from the finish, the new Quantum™ technology reduces manufacturing costs and GHG emissions, resulting in energy savings and lower carbon emissions compared to bottles with a traditional finish. Quantum™ technology also allows for up to 100% recycled material use and provides a superior consumer experience with a more sustainable, fully recyclable package.

“Our customers and consumers alike are looking for ways to support the circular economy and eliminate waste, and our engineers have developed a new technology that meets their needs and advances more sustainable packaging,” said Terry Patcheak, vice president of R&D, Sustainability and Project Management at ARP. “We’re helping our customers support source reduction, reduce material use and reduce weight, which means a lighter and more sustainable package.”

70% Less Greenhouse-gas Emissions:

Initially developed for the spirits industry, the Quantum™ optimized finish technology can be used for packaging in multiple segments including healthcare, home and personal care, food and dairy.

PET, which has rapidly become the world’s preferred packaging material, is lightweight, shatterproof, reclosable, resealable, reusable, and infinitely recyclable. In addition, PET bottles often have the lowest carbon footprint, and their production results in up to 70% fewer greenhouse-gas emissions than other packaging materials, according to Amcor’s lifecycle analysis.

Source: Amcor/omnexus.specialchem

German 1st research vessel with methanol drive christened

The Alfred Wegener Institute’s new eco-friendly research vessel Uthörn has been christened at Fassmer shipyard in Berne. 

As informed, the vessel, measuring 35 meters in length, will be the first seagoing German ship powered by environmentally friendly, low-emission methanol.

In addition to a large working deck with dry and wet laboratories, Uthörn features two derrick booms for trawling nets and water samplers, a multi-frequency echosounder for detecting and identifying schools of fish, and an anti-roll tank, which can stabilise the ship on choppy seas. 

The new vessel will operate in the North Sea, focusing on the area around the Alfred Wegener Institute’s island station in Helgoland.

“The new Uthörn sets standards as the first German seagoing vessel with methanol propulsion. The Alfred Wegener Institute and the Fassmer company have succeeded in building a sustainable, low-emission and innovative research vessel on which we can only congratulate them,” Bettina Stark-Watzinger, from Federal Minister of Education and Research commented.

“As a central pillar of coastal research at the AWI, the Uthörn regularly monitors the physical, chemical and biological status of the North Sea in the German Bight and near Helgoland. By doing so, the ship provides us with valuable and critical long-term data, allowing us to better gauge climate change and its impacts on the marine environment,” Karen Wiltshire, Head of Coastal Research at the Alfred Wegener Institute added.

Being a carbon-neutral solution, which is readily available today, methanol is gaining in popularity in the maritime sector, especially having in mind that other alternatives such as ammonia have a long way to go before becoming more mainstream.

Together with Bremerhaven-based partners from research and industry, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) has readied a proposal for a synthetic methanol production facility in Bremerhaven, which could be approved by the end of the year.

In a pilot project, renewable electricity from a wind turbine would be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis.

In the next step, this “green” hydrogen and CO2 from a nearby sewage treatment plant could be used to synthesise “green” methanol, which, when burnt, only releases the amount of CO2 that was captured during its production.

The key benefits of methanol include its density, which doesn’t affect the load capacity of ships, the fact that it is relatively safe to bunker, and that it has an attractive price. It is believed that methanol can reduce sulfur oxides by 99%, nitrogen oxides by 80%, and carbon emissions by 25% compared to conventional fuel.

Source:offshore-energy.biz

Global Silicone Market

 GLOBAL SILICONE MARKET:

I have completed an assignment on the GLOBAL SILICONE market for a well-reputed market research company and shared my insights on silicone usage in various applications in APAC and European Union regions.Also shared my insights on the demand,plant set up ,existing trends and comparison over other competitiors in the global market.

I have covered an overview of the landscape of the market, key players of the silicone in the Asia Pacific market and their market share in the various geographical regions.

Hyundai Steps up Hydrogen Investment by $6.7 Billion Committment

The Hyundai Group has announced a massive investment in hydrogen, committing $6.7 billion towards “the fuel of the future.”

Scott Phillips, Chief Investment Officer at Motley Fool told Oliver Peterson on Perth Live that hydrogen should be in the mix for our automotive future.

“When you block off potential ideas, when you simply say we think the race has been won and done…I think that’s a mistake,” he told Oly.

“I just think this is a smart idea, if you think about what hydrogen offers, a six kilo hydrogen tank can take you about as far as a standard full tank of petrol or diesel.”

Source:hydrogen-central

#hyundai #hydrogen #compositematerials #alternativeenergy #future #automotive #carbonneutral #investment

HEMP

 HEMP

1. One hectare of cannabis releases as much oxygen as 25 hectares of forest. Cannabis grows in 4 months and trees grow in 20-50 years.

2. From one hectare of cannabis, you get the same amount of paper as 4 hectares of forest.

3. Trees make recyclable paper 3 times while hemp makes recyclable paper 8 times. Hemp paper is the best and most durable.

5. Hemp plants are a radiation trap. Cannabis plantations purify the air.

6. Hemp can be grown anywhere in the world, it needs very little water. Furthermore, because it can defend itself against parasites, it doesn't need pesticides.

7. Hemp textiles outperform even linen products in their properties.

8. Hemp is an ideal plant for the production of edges, ropes, bags, shoes, hats...

9. Cannabis is banned in Bulgaria. But technical cannabis does not contain a drug and can be grown freely.

10. The protein value of cannabis seeds is very high and two fatty acids contained in it cannot be found anywhere else in nature.

11. Growing cannabis is much cheaper than soy.

12. Animals that eat cannabis don't need hormone supplements.

13. All plastic products can be made from hemp, hemp plastic is environmentally friendly and fully biodegradable.

14. Hemp can also be used for thermal insulation of buildings, it is durable, cheap and flexible.

15. Hemp soaps and hemp cosmetics do not pollute water, so they are completely environmentally friendly.

Not to mention the benefits of medical cannabis in the treatment of numerous diseases.

#hemp #hempproducts #medical #cannabis #textiles #cosmetics #paperindustry #recyclable #hempcrete #hempoil #hempfiber

Jakson Green announces $2.8bn green hydrogen and ammonia plans in India

Indian energy transition platform, Jakson Green, has revealed plans to establish a $2.8bn green hydrogen and green ammonia project in the Indian state of Rajasthan.

Under a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Rajasthan, Jakson Green intends to establish a green hydrogen and ammonia plant with a production capacity of up to 3.6 million tonnes per year.

Jakson Green is the energy transition arm of infrastructure and renewables company, Jakson Group, which recently announced intentions to become a leading develop and integrator of green hydrogen and ammonia.

Commenting on the Rajasthan plans, Bikesh Ogra, Founding Promoter, Managing Director, and CEO of Jakson Green, said, “We are extremely delighted to partner with the State of Rajasthan in developing one of the most realistically sized early green ammonia projects in the country.

“We truly appreciate the Government of Rajasthan for this partnership and for demonstrating their vision in positioning the state as a favoured green hydrogen hub by extending their utmost co-operation to our project.”

Source:H2-view

Why does carbon fibers possess such a high modulus in the direction of the fiber?

 As many questions related to materials engineering, to answer that we have to understand the unit cell structure of the material, in this case, graphite.

The crystal structure of graphite, consists of sp2 hybridized carbon atoms arranged two-dimensionally in a honeycomb structure in the x-y plane. The layers, termed graphene layers, are stacked parallel to each other in a 3D structure. The most common stacking sequence of the layer planes is the hexagonal form with an ABABAB packing sequence. This way, some atoms (α) have neighbors directly above and below in adjacent planes, while others (β) don’t. The bonding between the layers is van der Waals bonding, so the carbon layers can easily slide with respect to one another.

Due to the difference between the in-plane and out-of-plane bonding, graphite has a high modulus of elasticity parallel to the plane and a low modulus perpendicular to the plane. Thus, graphite is highly anisotropic. The high modulus of a carbon fiber stems from the fact that the carbon layers, though not necessarily flat, tend to be parallel to the fiber axis.

Source:#managingcomposites