Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Recyclable resin to motorhome interiors

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share 

Swancor applies its recyclable resin to motorhome interiors 

Motorhomes, also known as ‘homes on wheels,’ combine the functionalities of both a house and a vehicle. They are widely used for comfortable and convenient long-distance road trips and camping adventures.

Cabo Advanced Composite Materials Co., Ltd., based in Changshu, in China’s Jiangsu province, serves both domestic and international markets, dedicated to providing high-quality and advanced motorhome products and services. The motorhome interiors replace traditional metal materials with resin fibre composite materials, resulting in lightweight, durable, shock-absorbing, noise-reducing, and aesthetically versatile features.

In this collaboration, Swancor New Materials utilises the EzCiclo recyclable thermosetting epoxy infusion resin RB511-A/BS, combined with glass fibre, PVC core material, and lightweight wood, using an integrated moulding infusion process. This solution not only enhances product performance but also provides a pathway for customers to achieve a low-carbon economy, aligning with the increasing environmental demands and carbon reduction policies in both domestic and European markets.

The EzCiclo recyclable thermosetting epoxy resin addresses the historical challenge of non-degradable recycling in thermoset composite materials. Notably, it requires no alteration to existing production processes or equipment, ensures recyclability, minimises secondary pollution, and significantly reduces the carbon footprint.

When motorhome components made from Swancor’s EzCiclo recyclable thermosetting epoxy resin reach the end of their service life, they can be recycled and degraded using CleaVER dissolution technology. This process converts waste into regenerated fibres and oligomers. The regenerated fibres can be reprocessed and reused, ultimately forming glass fibre or carbon fibre composite materials. The entire degradation and recycling process is straightforward and low carbon, reducing raw material consumption and promoting a circular economy.

Currently, the EzCiclo product series holds ISO 14021 and ISO 14064 certifications. Composite materials produced using the EzCiclo series achieve a recycling rate of ≥95%. These materials find broad applications across industries such as wind turbine blades, sports and leisure, rail transportation, marine and automotive sectors.

Cover photo: Motorhome with Swancor recyclable resin

source:jeccomposites

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:Banana Fibre for Wound Care

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Indian scientists have made a breakthrough in wound care and sustainability by turning discarded banana plant stems into eco-friendly wound dressings.

The banana stems, usually considered waste, are abundant in India, the world's largest banana producer.

The IASST team, led by Prof. Devasish Chowdhury and Prof. (Retd) Rajlakshmi Devi, combined banana fibres with natural biopolymers to create a strong, antioxidant-rich dressing.They also added extracts from the Vitex negundo plant to fight bacteria and promote drug delivery.

The best part? This innovation is beneficial for both patients and the planet. It promotes healing, reduces waste, and provides a new use for banana plants.

Published in a renowned scientific journal, this research opens doors for a new era in sustainable and potentially more effective wound care.

source:The Better India

CAI Performance Additives announced the launch of PA/ABS Compatibilizer ST-AN3220™.

It is designed to address the longstanding challenge of poor compatibility between PA (nylon) and ABS in alloyed materials.

Offering Good Matte Effect with Improved Heat Resistance:

Blending PA and ABS offers both toughness of ABS and heat and oil resistance of PA. However, this alloy is difficult to produce due to the poor compatibility between the two materials. Traditional compatibilizers fall short, so the launch of ST-AN3220™ can provide excellent coupling solutions for the PA/ABS.

PA/ABS alloys with ST-AN3220™ offer several advantages over the widely used PC/ABS blends, including their low density, good matte effect, greatly improved heat resistance, wear resistance, chemical resistance, processing performance, and a broad range of applications.

Customers enjoy ST-AN3220™ with:

Automotive components

Electronic devices

Household appliances

And many more ST-AN3220™ is a high-performance additive with key features such as high rigidity, low residue, low odor and improved compatibility and mechanical properties.

Source: CAI Performance Additives/omnexus.specialchem.com

 

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Researchers Develop Cool Paint Using Recycled Plastics

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

An NTU research team has successfully developed new methods to create a type of “cool paint” using recycled plastics – namely acrylic, old PVC pipes and polystyrene foam – and barium sulphate, offering a sustainable and efficient alternative to new plastics.

The NTU methods not only help in cooling temperatures in tropical environments, but also contribute to effective plastic waste management.

Can Reach 3°C Below the Ambient Temperature:

In the first method (sol-gel), the research team used recycled plastics and mixed them with barium sulphate (BaSO4), to create their cool paint.

A 24-hour test on the roof-top of a building in Singapore showed that the newly created coating can reach 1.2°C below the surrounding air temperature when exposed to direct sunlight. At night, the coating could reach 3°C below the ambient temperature. The coating can reflect about 97.7% of sunlight and emits 95% of its heat in the infra-red band.

Made Recycled Plastics Porous to Scatter Sunlight:

In a second method (phase inversion), the team also used recycled plastics and barium sulphate to make the cool paint but focused on making the recycled plastics porous by creating tiny air-filled holes in them during the production process. This is because air pores help to scatter sunlight across its spectrum.

Results showed that the surfaces coated with this version of the paint could almost match the surrounding air temperature at noon and achieve night temperature of 2.5°C below the ambient temperature.

The cool paint developed using both methods outperforms commercially available cool paints which typically are unable to bring surface temperatures below ambient. 

Reduces the Need of Sorting

Further investigations using a mix of unsorted plastic waste (mix of acrylic, PVC pipes and polystyrene foam) also showed that results were comparable to those from cool paints developed using only a single type of plastic waste. This suggests that the NTU team’s approaches reduce the need for sorting different types of plastic.

Source: NTU/omnexus.specialchem.com

Lummus Invests in RWDC Industries to Globally Commercialize PHA

Lummus Technology has taken a lead investor position in RWDC Industries' convertible bond round. This further strengthens the partnership between the two companies to bring polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) to the global market.

This strategic investment marks a significant milestone in commercialization of PHA. PHA is a biodegradable and environmentally safe alternative to petroleum-based plastics. It can help mitigate the accelerating health concerns associated with persistent plastics and microplastics in the environment and support the development of a circular economy.

First Commercial-scale PHA Facility to Open in 2025:

Since signing a binding Joint Development and Commercial Cooperation Agreement in September 2023, Lummus and RWDC have made substantial progress in their shared mission to accelerate worldwide adoption of PHA and prepare the technology for global licensing.

The engineering phase of RWDC’s first commercial-scale PHA facility is nearly complete. The detailed engineering and preconstruction activities are set to be finalized in the coming months. Lummus' lead investment in RWDC's convertible bond round will enable completion of these final stages, targeting groundbreaking of the facility in early 2025.

“Lummus’ investment in RWDC is a testament to our unwavering commitment to commercializing PHA and advancing the circular economy of the polymer industry,” said Leon de Bruyn, president and chief executive officer, Lummus Technology. “By combining our expertise in process technology with RWDC’s innovative PHA production capabilities, we are poised to make a significant impact on the world's transition to sustainable and more carbon neutral materials.”

“Lummus’ support as the lead investor in our convertible bond round is a major step forward for RWDC and the future of PHA,” said Dr. Daniel Carraway, chief executive officer, RWDC. “This investment not only accelerates our journey towards construction of our first commercial-scale PHA production facility but also validates the immense potential of our technology in addressing the global challenge of plastic pollution.”

Source: Lummus Technology/omnexus.specialchem.com

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Optical Plastic Vs Optical Glass

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Optical Plastic Vs Optical Glass

Optical plastics and optical glass are the two mainstream materials for optical devices, each with unique characteristics and application advantages. First of all, from the perspective of material properties, the refractive index of optical plastics usually ranges from 1.42 to 1.69, the Abbe number ranges from 18.8 to 65.3, and the relative density ranges from 0.83 to 1.46g/cm³. In contrast, optical glass has a wider range of refractive index and dispersion, but optical plastics come at the expense of relatively low heat resistance, high moisture absorption, and a large coefficient of thermal expansion.

Although optical plastics are relatively disadvantaged in some aspects, such as poor heat resistance and chemical stability, they have clear advantages. Optical plastics are lightweight and have strong impact resistance. Their relative density is only half that of glass, and their manufacturing and processing costs are far lower than 1/10 to 1/30 of optical glass. The impact resistance of optical plastic lenses is about 10 times that of glass, making it an ideal choice for scenarios that require high device weight and safety. In addition, optical plastics have good shape adaptability and can flexibly prepare complex shapes such as aspheric lenses, providing more possibilities for optical system design.

However, optical plastics also have some limitations. It has relatively low heat resistance and may soften or deform in high temperature environments. The surface has relatively poor abrasion and chemical resistance and may require additional protective measures. In contrast, optical glass has higher heat resistance, better wear resistance and chemical stability.

In practical applications, optical system designers need to choose optical plastics or optical glasses according to specific needs, or use them in clever combinations to achieve the best performance balance. For high-demand application scenarios, optical glass may be preferred, while in applications that emphasize lightweight and cost, optical plastics appear to be more competitive.

source:nonicustomoptics.com

Trillium to Establish Bio-acrylonitrile Plant at INEOS Nitriles’ Texas Facility

Trillium Renewable Chemicals (Trillium) announces the selection of INEOS Nitriles’ Green Lake facility in Port Lavaca, Texas to establish the world’s first demonstration plant for converting plant-based glycerol into acrylonitrile. The demonstration plant is named “Project Falcon.”

Offering Lower Carbon Footprint than Standard Acrylonitrile:

Trillium Renewable Chemicals has developed a groundbreaking technology for producing sustainable acrylonitrile, a key raw material in numerous industries, including toys, auto parts, aerospace components, medical supplies, and apparel. Selecting INEOS underscores Trillium's ambition to scale up its technology in an industrial environment to accelerate progress.

“Trillium is thrilled that INEOS Nitriles Green Lake, home to America’s largest acrylonitrile production plant, will serve as the home for Project Falcon,” said Corey Tyree, CEO of Trillium Renewable Chemicals. “This milestone is a significant step forwards in bringing our technology to market and producing sustainable bio-based acrylonitrile at scale.”

Following a $10.6M Series A financing round in December 2022 and $2.5 million award from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office in June 2022, Trillium constructed a pilot plant that successfully produced acrylonitrile from glycerol. Trillium’s sustainable acrylonitrile offers a lower carbon footprint than standard acrylonitrile based on the Sohio propylene process. The company’s innovative approach addresses growing customer demand for greener bio based raw materials.

Project Falcon Operations to Begin in Early 2025

The ongoing operation of Trillium’s pilot plant progresses product sampling and customer validation, contributing valuable insights for the design of the Falcon plant, which is to operate at the INEOS Nitriles Green Lake site.

Hans Casier, CEO of INEOS Nitriles, highlighted the significance of Trillium’s decision, “INEOS Nitriles is very pleased to be working with Trillium to advance technology for the production of sustainable bio-based acrylonitrile. Our support for this project, which is part of our wider sustainability strategy, emphasizes our commitment as the world’s largest producer of acrylonitrile, to reducing the carbon footprint of the industry. We look forward to working closely with Trillium to help achieve this objective.”

The operation of Project Falcon will help to validate commercial-scale economics and product carbon footprint at scale. Emphasis will be placed on achieving process performance criteria such as plant uptime, demonstrating key equipment in its final form, and securing qualification as a supplier of bio-based acrylonitrile. Set to commence operations in early 2025, the project will run through early 2026.

Source: INEOS/polymer-additives.specialchem.com