Orion Set to Produce Conductive Additives for Batteries at Texas Plant

Orion broke ground on a plant in Texas that will be the only facility in the U.S. producing acetylene-based conductive additives.

These additives will be for lithium-ion batteries and other applications vital for the global shift to electrification.

Producing Additives having One-tenth of Carbon Footprint:

The site in the city of La Porte, southeast of Houston, will create many high-skilled jobs, both in construction and technical fields and bring innovative technology to the American economy. The battery additives produced by Orion’s plant will be super clean, with only one-tenth of the carbon footprint of other commonly used materials.

“Orion is already the sole producer of acetylene-based conductive additives in Europe,” Orion CEO Corning Painter said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “Our plant in La Porte will be a pivotal step toward strengthening the regional supply of conductive additives in the rapidly growing U.S. battery market.”

Every battery requires conductive additives. They enable a more efficient flow of electricity and extend the lifetime of lithium-ion batteries, the most valuable components of electric vehicles. The material also plays an essential role in high-voltage cables used for wind and solar farms.

Reducing Carbon Emissions Across Industries

The additives produced at the La Porte plant will be made from acetylene, a colorless gas that Orion’s production process turns into powder with exceptional purity demanded by leading battery manufacturers. The acetylene will be supplied by a neighboring site owned by Equistar Chemicals LP, a subsidiary of LyondellBasell.

At Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony, Kim Foley, LyondellBasell executive vice president of Global Olefins and Polyolefins, Refining and Supply Chain, said “At LYB, we see electrification as a crucial part of our plan to reduce carbon emissions across our industries. By supporting the production of key battery components, we're contributing to solutions for a better tomorrow.”

Orion’s plant in La Porte is similar to one the company has in the city of Berre-l'Étang in southern France. The facility also uses acetylene from LyondellBasell. With the LaPorte project, key equipment procurement and off-site fabrication are already at an advanced stage. Field construction activities are ramping up, with the facility start-up expected in the second quarter of 2025.

Source: Orion/www.polymer-additives.specialchem.com

 

India's FIRST Hydrogen Fuel Cell Coach

 India is consistently pushing the boundaries.

Launching India’s first Hydrogen Fuel cell coach.

BharatBenz & Reliance recently released the coach has a range of 400 km.

Hydrogen fuel cells provide an inherently clean source of energy.

This is an amazing first step to make hydrogen fuel from greener sources which paves way for a sustainable future!

source:Brendan Rogers

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:Characterizing the excited states of individual atoms through the combination of tunneling microscopy and pulsed laser

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Characterizing the excited states of individual atoms through the combination of tunneling microscopy and pulsed laser

The characterization of the dynamics of the excited states of a single atom localized on a surface remains to this day an experimental challenge. By combining a tunable pulsed laser at the junction of a low-temperature tunneling microscope, researchers have highlighted rapid photocurrent signals that can be attributed to the dynamics of excited states of an individual erbium atom deposited on the silicon surface.

In a vast majority of physico-chemical processes, the excited states of atoms are obtained either by absorbing light or by interacting with electrons. The most common method for measuring the characteristics of the quantum state of an excited atom is to analyze the light emitted during its relaxation to its ground state. In a gas, it is possible to observe many atoms relaxing simultaneously and thus collect enough light signal. When it comes to performing this type of analysis on a single atom localized on a surface, the emitted light signal is often too weak to be detected. It is therefore essential to be able to couple the optical measurement of the excited state with another type of measurement, via interaction with electrons. However, the electronic readout of the excited state of a nano-object is often hindered by its rapid dynamics, and the readout disturbs its state, posing several fundamental and technical challenges that have not been addressed until now.

By locally coupling a tunable pulsed laser to excite erbium atoms deposited on a silicon surface at the junction of a tunneling microscope, researchers from the Institute of Molecular Sciences of Orsay (ISMO, CNRS / Université Paris-Saclay) have demonstrated that the tunneling current measured above each erbium atom simultaneously contains information regarding the excited states of both the surface and the atom itself. Thanks to the high precision and stability of this type of microscope, physicists were able to distinguish between the origins of the two sources of photocurrent (surface versus atom). Furthermore, by conducting precise measurements of photocurrent spectra on two types of erbium adsorption conformations on silicon, it is also possible to establish a precise relationship between the photocurrent peaks and the electronic structure (quantum state) of each erbium conformation. Through collaboration with the Franche-Comté Institute of Electronics, Mechanics, Thermics and Optics - Sciences and Technologies (FEMTO-ST, CNRS / Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté), numerical calculations using density functional theory were performed, taking into account the relativistic aspect of erbium's electronic interactions as well as spin-orbit couplings. These calculations confirmed that the experimental measurements acquired by scanning the laser wavelength indeed contain information about the most probable electronic transitions of the excited erbium in relation to the photocurrent peaks observed experimentally.

All these results suggest that the reading of erbium's excited states via the tunnel current of the STM occurs during their de-excitation (optical relaxation), locally leading to the dissociation of excitons (electron-hole pairs) created by the laser and strongly localized at the erbium atoms on the surface of silicon. This sudden dissociation induces a burst of photoelectrons measured in the tunnel current, which occurs at the optical resonance of the probed excited state of erbium as the tunable laser sweeps wavelengths from 800 nm to 1200 nm. The researchers were able to define that the spectral resolution of this new spectroscopic method is less than 5 cm-1, primarily limited by the resolution of the laser used.

These findings, published in ACS Nano, may pave the way for new tools to explore the dynamics of future nano-objects such as atomic or molecular assemblies. This technique thus offers new perspectives for experimental and theoretical explorations aimed at controlling model devices by preparing specific quantum states.

Reference Optoelectronic Readout of Single Er Adatom’s Electronic States Adsorbed on the Si(100) Surface at Low Temperature (9 K)

Eric Duverger and Damien Riedel

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.4c01008

source:nanotechnologyworld.org

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share: Full carbon fiber composite fairing

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Full carbon fiber composite fairing delivered for first flight of Tianbing Technology’s Tianlong 3 

The large-diameter full carbon fiber composite fairing of Tianbing Technology’s Tianlong 3 (TL-3) launch vehicle rolled off the production line.

“Tianbing Technology has fully mastered the development capabilities of large-scale composite cabin sections and achieves another major breakthrough in the development of high-quality, high-efficiency, low-cost products.

The rocket fairing is located at the front end of the rocket and is an extremely important and complex section of the rocket. The TL-3 large fairing has a diameter of 4200 mm and a length of about 13 meters. It is made entirely of carbon fiber composite materials. It is the largest fairing in domestic commercial aerospace and the largest full carbon fiber fairing in China. It is also the first domestic fairing that is customized for satellite internet constellations. It can be called the most advanced composite fairing in the country.

Through innovative technology, the development cost of the TL-3 fairing was reduced by 30% and production efficiency was increased by more than 20%, which greatly shortened the product development cycle and ensured the success rate of mass production of Tianbing Technology’s subsequent products and high-intensity launch missions, according to the company.

source: Tianbing Technology/www.spacepioneer.cc/jeccomposites

Avient Partners with Hager to Develop Waterproof Switches Using Ocean-bound Plastic

Avient Corporation, a provider of specialized and sustainable materials solutions and services, announces a successful collaboration with its long-standing and valued customer, Hager Group.

Avient supported Hager to incorporate 27% recycled ocean-bound plastic into its new cubyko leaf waterproof outdoor sockets and switches, providing its customers with a more eco-conscious option. This success was achieved in further collaboration with Plastic Bank. It provides the recycled ocean-bound plastic waste that Avient formulates into high-performance polyolefin materials.

Replaces Primary Materials by Meeting Technical Specifications

Avient constributed to this success by developing customized versions of its Maxxam™ REC Recycled Polyolefin Formulations. It contains 50% recycled ocean-bound plastic content, using Social Plastic® feedstock from Plastic Bank. As a result, the final assembly of the Hager cubyko leaf includes 27% ocean-bound plastic content. These formulations effectively replace the primary materials used by Hager and meet the required technical specifications, including coloration to specific RAL colors, while also providing good resistance to ultraviolet (UV) light, scratches, and impacts.

source:Avient/omnexus.specialchem

CO2-negative construction thanks to new composite material

A new composite material is finding its way into the construction industry. Made from natural stone, carbon fibers and biochar, it is an alternative to reinforced concrete. It is characterized by a particularly good CO2 balance.

The DITF is leading the joint project “DACCUS-Pre*”. The basic idea of the project is to develop a new building material that stores carbon in the long term and removes more CO2 from the atmosphere than is emitted during its production.       

In collaboration with the company TechnoCarbon Technologies, the project is now well advanced – a first demonstrator in the form of a house wall element has been realized. It consists of three materials: Natural stone, carbon fibers and biochar. Each component contributes in a different way to the negative CO2 balance of the material:

Two slabs of natural stone form the exposed walls of the wall element. The mechanical processing of the material, i.e. sawing in stone cutting machines, produces significant quantities of stone dust. This is very reactive due to its large specific surface area. Silicate weathering of the rock dust permanently binds a large amount of CO2 from the atmosphere.

Carbon fibers in the form of technical fabrics reinforce the side walls of the wall elements. They absorb tensile forces and are intended to stabilize the building material in the same way as reinforcing steel in concrete. The carbon fibers used are bio-based, produced from biomass. Lignin-based carbon fibers, which have long been technically optimized at DITF Denkendorf, are particularly suitable for this application: They are inexpensive due to low raw material costs and have a high carbon yield. In addition, unlike reinforcing steel, they are not susceptible to oxidation and therefore last much longer. Although carbon fibers are more energy-intensive to produce than steel, as used in reinforced concrete, only a small amount is needed for use in building materials. As a result, the energy and CO2 balance is much better than for reinforced concrete. By using solar heat and biomass to produce the carbon fibers and the weathering of the stone dust, the CO2 balance of the new building material is actually negative, making it possible to construct CO2-negative buildings.

The third component of the new building material is biochar. This is used as a filler between the two rock slabs. The char acts as an effective insulating material. It is also a permanent source of CO2 storage, which plays a significant role in the CO2 balance of the entire wall element.

Cover photo: DITF /jeccomposites

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:Flow induced nucleation and more crystallinity

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Injection Molding creates non-monotonic crystallinity gradients through the thickness, and corresponding non monotonic elastic modulus.

On one hand the rapid quench of the skin (combined with fountain flow) reduces crystallinity of the most outer layers leading to typically half the nominal modulus ( PP data).

The high shear just below (frozen skin) will produce strong "flow induced nucleation" and more crystallinity ( and oriented structures). These layers can be 4X stiffer than the skin in PP.
Finally the core section undergoes a more quiescent crystallization with slower cooling and shear rates and will have "average" crystallinity, larger non-oriented crystals and pretty much the data-sheet kind of modulus .

source:Vito leo