Today's KNOWLEDGE Share :Importance of Permeation test on COPV

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Guidance on sorting out Hydrogen Permeation issues on Type 4 Cylinders:

I think I can throw some light on the H2 permeation that creates more concern in recent months in the H2 storage systems market.

Post COVID the hydrogen market boom takes place in the world market and there are a few challenges rising up especially looking at increased pressure requirements that range from 350-700 bar for H2 type 4 cylinders when compared with working pressure on CNG type 4 cylinders.

Hydrogen is the lightest element and it has highly volatile, escapes faster and disperses rapidly before it forms a flammable concentration level.When compare with other gases,hydrogen rises 2 times faster than Helium and six times faster than natural gas at 72km/hr (20m/sec).Volumetric flammable hydrogen concentrations in air starts at 4% and the explosive hydrogen concentrations starts at 18.3%.

The H2 type 4 cylinders factor of safety also increases and need to withstand upto 2000 bar in the burst test in order to meet the stringent international standard ECE R134 for H2 cylinder requirements.The winding time will increase and thickness of the cylinders (from 20 mm to 40 mm) too increase based on the design parameters.There are still many developments can be made with existing epoxy resin system to improve better heat resistance,toughness,strength,chemical resistance etc.In the coming years we can witness lots of changes in the improved Epoxy resin system that can offer better barrier resistance to H2 permeation.

The current type 4 manufacturers should form a team of experts and start focus on adding cost effective additives that will show better result in the prevention of H2 permeation on type 4 cylinders for the overall operations.There's still some certified well known Type 4 cylinder companies do struggle with Gas Permeation on their Type 4 cylinders in the world market.To solve this,the gas chemistry,liner material,epoxy,additives chemistry has to be understand completely to land up with the right solutions that will yield very good results on permeation over the years.

A allowable H2 permeation range that states in grams per day has to be calculated on your cylinder to see where your type 4 cylinders stand on Hydrogen Permeation range. And the better the permeation your composite structure offers,the excellent performance of type 4 cylinders one can witness while in operation for more than 20 years.

While designing your prototype Type 4 cylinders,the main priority you have to give on the Barrier properties of the cylinders as a permeation test is going to give you a lot more problems with your cylinders in the coming years as the certification will be more stringent than today's one.

Muthuramalingam Krishnan

Credit (Photo) :Hexagon Purus

#composites #hydrogeneconomy #type4cylinders #epoxy #carbonfiber #COPV

Graphjet Develops High Purity Green Graphite from Agricultural Waste

  Graphjet Technology, a leading developer of patented technologies to produce graphite and graphene directly from agricultural waste, today announced that it has achieved key breakthroughs in catalyzing graphitization to produce high quality synthetic graphite with its patented green graphite production technology.

“Graphjet's artificial green graphite, produced from palm-based biomass residues, has been tested by an authoritative third-party agency, resulting in a purity level of 99.99% and a graphitization level of 98.8%, both of which exceed the standards of high-quality graphite,” said Aiden Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of Graphjet. “These results verify that our patented technology is mature and reliable and that we are committed to providing industry-leading artificial graphite products to global customers, backed by proven metrics that they can trust. These significant innovations further validate our technology as we position ourselves as the world’s leading supplier of green graphite.”

Graphjet’s green graphite technology is the first in the world to produce artificial graphite directly from palm kernel shells, a widely available waste product in Malaysia and Indonesia. Pilot-scale testing has demonstrated that Graphjet’s artificial graphite can achieve purity levels of up to 99.99%, validating the Company’s technology and its ability to effectively compete with all forms of graphite production, including mining and other synthetic graphite operations.

In addition to the high purity levels achieved, Graphjet’s production technology boasts a 98.8% graphitization level. The production process of artificial graphite generally involves such steps as raw material mixing, molding, high temperature and high pressure graphitization, and graphite characteristics modifications. A high level of graphitization is key for the Company’s green graphite technology, as high graphitization demonstrates that the composition of the graphite lattice is highly organized and of a uniform crystal structure which results in improved physical and chemical characteristics. Graphite of this quality is a remarkable material for industries and applications such as lithium ion batteries, thermal management, and graphite electrodes, among others.

“Throughout Graphjet’s process, our core differentiator is our proprietary catalysts formula, which enables us to cost-effectively produce graphite of the highest quality,” continued Aiden Lee. “Maintaining high temperature graphitization for extended periods requires high-quality equipment to control parameters such as temperature, pressure, time and graphitization gas. These factors are critical in determining the graphitization degree and properties of artificial graphite.”

Graphjet has achieved the highest levels of both purity and graphitization among all biomass graphite production technologies, which further demonstrates its suitability for the production of semiconductors and anode materials for high-performance electric vehicle batteries. Notably, the Company’s technological achievements have been validated by third-party labs in China.

Higher graphitization levels signify a higher percentage of graphite crystal formation within a graphite sample. The graphitization level will depend on key factors during graphitization process such as temperature, pressure, time and graphitization gas.

Artificial graphite with favorable heat conductivity properties, stability and chemical properties can be applied in the production of lithium-ion batteries, graphite electrodes, heat management and high-performance porcelain industries. With the continuous advancement of science and technology, the application fields of artificial graphite will be further expanded and demand will continue to increase. Graphjet’s artificial graphite is a high-performance raw material, and its graphitization degree is an important factor affecting its properties and applications. Graphjet’s high-performance artificial graphite will enable the market to foster breakthrough technologies and new applications, signifying a wider range of applications.

Graphjet recently commissioned the world’s first and largest green graphite facility in Malaysia, with an annual production capacity of up to 3,000 metric tons of battery-grade graphite. This level of production is sufficient to support battery production for approximately 40,000 electric vehicles per year. Per kg of graphite produced, Graphjet’s patented technology produces only 2.95 kg CO2 emissions, compared to 16.8 kg CO2 emissions and 17 kg CO2 emissions from natural and synthetic graphite production, respectively, in China. Graphjet’s technology is expected to have the lowest carbon footprint of any graphite production process in the world.

source:Graphjet

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Thin High shear layers in Injection molding

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

A local temperature increase in excess of 100°C is absolutely a realistic number for the thin high shear layers in Injection Molding.

Because this high T will last often less than a second (fill-times are short, the cold steel mold is extremely close), such high melt T will not necessarily result in a very visible quality loss, like discoloration.

This high shear-heating also happens in your barrel if you push RPM and back pressure up. However, testing for melt T plunging a thermocouple on the purged melt will hardly measure a significant change in average temperature, because the very hot layer is extremely thin (small overall volume fraction).

Despite the small volume involved in possible degradation, significant issues may arise, like VOC (volatile organic compounds) degassing, which will mess with your process and parts.

The message is : be aware that due to the low thermal conductivity of plastics, heating will be very localized (adiabatic) and will be difficult to evidence with typical observation/testing, while already creating issues.

source:Vito leo

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Toray Develops Nylon Resin with 4X Greater Damping than Butyl Rubber:

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Toray Industries, Inc., announced that it has developed a damping nylon resin that maintains the high-temperature rigidity and moldability of standard nylon while delivering four times the damping performance of butyl rubber and other conventional materials.

The company has started supplying samples to customers for various components to enhance comfort in electric and autonomous vehicles. It aims to commercialize its new offering during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027.

Superior Vibration Damping Reduces Engine Noise

While electric vehicles reduce engine noise, the demand for suppressing low-frequency road noise is expected to grow, alongside tighter exterior noise regulations. Standard thermoplastic resins have limited vibration damping capabilities, so rubber-based materials like butyl rubber are commonly used for noise suppression.

However, these materials lack thermoplasticity, making them unsuitable for secondary processing, such as forming complex shapes and parts. Additionally, their inability to maintain hardness and rigidity at temperatures up to 120°C limits their use in automotive, electrical, electronic, and other applications.

This challenge prompted Toray to explore polymer alloys that combine nylon, known for its exceptional high-temperature rigidity and moldability, with resins offering excellent vibration damping. Conventional alloy technologies produce micrometer-scale dispersion structures, which limit the ability to fully express these properties.

By leveraging its proprietary NANOALLOY™ technology, Toray achieved a co-continuous structure in which each resin phase forms a continuous network at scales of 100 to 300 nanometers. This breakthrough resulted in a nylon resin with superior vibration damping, moldability, and high-temperature rigidity.

Loss Tangent 28X Higher than that of Standard Nylon Resin

Using its advanced technology, Toray demonstrated that the loss tangent, a key indicator of damping performance, is around 28 times higher than that of standard nylon resin and four times higher than that of butyl rubber. The thermoplasticity of the new material makes it suitable for reinforced products incorporating glass fibers and other additives. Also, the material exhibits 80 times greater high-temperature rigidity than butyl rubber while maintaining outstanding vibration damping properties.

As well as replacing flexible butyl rubber-based damping materials used in gaskets and seals, the new material’s rigidity opens up opportunities for noise suppression applications in covers and larger structural components, such as chassis housings.

The new ultra-damping nylon resin should find applications in mobility components, electrical and electronic parts, industrial equipment, and construction materials.

Source: Toray/omnexus.specialchem.com

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Avantium Develops Solution to Effectively Recycle Polycotton Textile Waste

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

New research leads to viable solution for polycotton textile waste recycling

In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers at the Industrial Sustainable Chemistry group of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) present a solution to the challenging problem of recycling polycotton textile waste.

The process, developed in cooperation with the company Avantium, starts with fully removing all cotton from the fabric using superconcentrated hydrochloric acid at room temperature. The cotton is converted into glucose, which can be used as a feedstock for biobased products such as renewable plastics. The remaining polyester fibers can be reprocessed using available polyester recycling methods.

Being able to recover glucose from the cotton in textile waste is a crucial contribution to this, as glucose is a key bio-based feedstock. Currently, it is produced from starch from corn and wheat. If and when we will be producing plastics from biomass on a large scale, the world will need a lot of non-food glucose.

Scalability and cost-effectiveness:

The paper describes how Leenders performed experiments using Avantium's pilot plant for its proprietary Dawn Technology which was originally developed to convert non-food plant-based feedstock (e.g wood) into glucose and lignin. Its key feature is using highly concentrated hydrochloric acid (43% by weight) at room temperature.

Leenders tested batches of actual post-consumer polycotton waste textiles in Avantium's Dawn pilot plant. It turned out the cotton cellulose could be fully hydrolyzed into glucose under industrially relevant conditions. The polyester part of the fabric remained intact and could be easily separated. The trials demonstrated high glucose yields, indicating scalability and cost-effectiveness.

The cotton-derived glucose from the process can be used in a wide range of industrial applications, including polymers, resins and solvents. It can, for example, be used by Avantium to produce its lead product 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a crucial component in the production of the biobased PEF polyester (polyethylene furanoate) that offers a renewable alternative to PET bottles.

The process also enables the complete recycling of polyester from polycotton. It can be chemically recycled to form new virgin polyester, as was established by tests performed by CuRe.

Favorable techno-economic analysis:

According to Gruter, the research lays the foundation for actual industrialscale recycling of polycotton textiles and the first commercial availability of non-food glucose.

Many parties are trying to get either of these things done but no one has succeeded yet.Our techno-economic analysis looks rather favorable and Avantium has already invested substantially in this development.

source:Avantium/ phys.org

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share :Cornell Researchers Create First-of-Its-Kind Durable and Recyclable Plastic

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Researchers have created a recyclable, bio-based alternative to thermoset plastics using dihydrofuran (DHF).

Cornell University researchers have developed a recyclable alternative to thermoset plastics, a durable class of materials commonly used in car tires, replacement hip joints, and bowling balls.

Thermosets are characterized by a crosslinked polymer structure that ensures exceptional strength and longevity. However, this same structure has made traditional, petrochemical-based thermosets— which account for 15% to 20% of all polymers produced—impossible to recycle.

“Currently, zero percent of the world’s thermoset materials are recycled – they’re either incinerated or thrown in landfills,” said Brett Fors, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell.

A Bio-Based, Recyclable Solution

The Fors lab has addressed that environmental challenge by creating an alternative made from a bio-sourced material that has crosslinked thermosets’ durability and malleability but can be easily recycled and degraded.

“The whole process, from creating to reusing, is more environmentally friendly than current materials,” said Reagan Dreiling, a doctoral student in the field of chemistry and first author of the paper, which published in Nature.

The Fors group studies dihydrofuran (DHF), a monomer – or chemical building block – that can be made from biological materials and has the potential to eventually compete with petroleum-based feedstocks.

How the New Material Works

Dreiling used DHF, a circular monomer with a double bond, as a building block for two successive polymerizations, the second of which results in a crosslinked polymer that can be recycled through heating and will degrade naturally in the environment.

DHF thermosets show comparable properties to commercial thermosets, including high-density polyurethane (used in electronics instruments, packaging, and footwear, for example) and ethylene propylene rubber (used in garden hoses and automotive weatherstripping).

In contrast to current petrochemical thermosets, the DHF-based materials offer a circular economy of use, Fors said. Chemically recyclable, the material can be made back into its building block monomer and used again from scratch. And when some of the material inevitably leaks into the environment, these materials will degrade over time into benign components.

The researchers are working toward applications, including making the DHF-based material useful for 3D printing. They are also experimenting to expand the properties with additional monomers.

“We’ve spent 100 years trying to make polymers that last forever, and we’ve realized that’s not actually a good thing,” Fors said. “Now we’re making polymers that don’t last forever, that can environmentally degrade.”

Reference: “Degradable thermosets via orthogonal polymerizations of a single monomer” by Reagan J. Dreiling, Kathleen Huynh and Brett P. Fors, 29 January 2025, Nature.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08386-w

The study was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

source:Cornell University /SciTechDaily

A Major Step Forward with Enerkem’s Groundbreaking Waste-to-Methanol Technology

Enerkem, a global technology provider enabling low-carbon fuels and chemicals production from waste, is proud to announce that Repsol’s Board of Directors has officially approved the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Ecoplanta project, marking a significant milestone in the drive for the supply of sustainable fuel and product.

Repsol’s Ecoplanta project will leverage Enerkem’s cutting-edge technology to transform non-recyclable municipal waste into sustainable methanol which can be used as a raw material to produce circular materials as well as advanced biofuels, contributing to the decarbonization of transport and chemicals.

“We are thrilled with the approval of Ecoplanta’s FID, which will play a key role in advancing our commitment to sustainability and circularity,” said Michel Chornet, CEO of Enerkem. “Enerkem’s innovative technology will enable Ecoplanta to make a significant impact on efforts to increase waste recycling as well as decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors.”

Located in El Morell, Spain, the Ecoplanta facility will help tackle major environmental challenges by diverting around 400 000 tonnes of non-recyclable municipal waste from landfills and incineration. Using Enerkem’s advanced gasification technology, the facility will convert this waste into 240,000 tonnes methanol per year. The start-up of the plant is scheduled for 2029.

“Our technology has already proven its ability to convert waste into valuable, sustainable products at commercial scale, and we are confident Ecoplanta will set an inspiring example for others on the path to decarbonization. I would like to thank Repsol, Technip Energies, the European Innovation Fund* and our employees for this great achievement.

source:Enerkem