Borealis and AnQore join forces to advance circularity in acrylonitrile value chains

#Borealis has partnered with AnQore to support the shift to a circular and renewable value chain for acrylonitrile (ACN)—a chemical used in everyday products such as cars, electronics, and water treatment solutions. The collaboration centers on the supply of Borealis’ Borvida™ B-propylene, a sustainable feedstock made from ISCC PLUS-certified non-food waste biomass. Chemically identical to conventional propylene, AnQore uses it as a building block for Econitrile-MB™ the world’s first sustainable, Mass-Balanced ACN.

Borvida™ B-propylene is part of the broader Borvida portfolio of renewable and circular base chemicals. Offering the same properties and performance as conventional base chemicals, they have a lower carbon footprint and also support the shift away from fossil feedstocks. Renewable content is tracked through the value chain using a Chain of Custody model, based on the Mass Balance approach. This means circular content can be traced and verified from source to final product.

Econitrile-MB produced using Borvida™ B-propylene from Borealis and sustainable ammonia has been in production for several years, offering end users a broader of sustainable solutions.

Econitrile gives producers of ABS, acrylamide, carbon fiber, acrylic fiber, nitrile rubber, surfactants, and many other advanced materials a way to boost the sustainability of their products. With a carbon footprint up to 90% lower per kilogram than regular acrylonitrile, Econitrile offers a significantly more sustainable alternative without compromising on performance at all.

At AnQore, we’re striving to make the value chains for our specialist chemicals more sustainable, and that starts with the raw materials,” says Sjoerd Zuidema, CEO of AnQore. “We’re proud that, thanks to our partnership with Borealis, we’re able to offer the world’s first circular, mass-balanced acrylonitrile, and support our customers in making more sustainable products.

This partnership shows how Borealis is putting its We4Customers strategy into action by enabling customers like AnQore to access high-quality circular materials, backed by a secure supply and the flexibility and support needed to respond to changing market needs and regulations.

“This partnership shows that by working together across the value chain, we can unlock the value of waste,” says Thomas Van De Velde, Borealis Senior Vice President Base Chemicals.

#AnQore is a trusted European producer of #acrylonitrile and other key chemical #buildingblocks, based at the Chemelot Chemical Park in Geleen, the Netherlands. AnQore focuses on delivering safe, secure, and sustainable solutions that help its customers stay ahead, whether in water treatment, consumer goods, or high-performance applications like automotive and electronics.

source:Borealis

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Light-as-a-feather nanomaterial extracts drinking water from air

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Light-as-a-feather nanomaterial extracts drinking water from air

An international scientific collaboration has developed a novel nanomaterial to efficiently harvest clean drinking water from water vapor in the air. The nanomaterial can hold more than three times its weight in water and can achieve this far quicker than existing commercial technologies, features that enable its potential in direct applications for producing potable water from the air.

The collaboration is led by the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation (ARC COE-CSI) UNSW Associate Professor Rakesh Joshi and Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov. Prof Joshi is based at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW). Prof Novoselov is based at the National University of Singapore.

A United Nations report estimates that 2.2 billion people lack safely managed drinking water.

On Earth, there are about 13 million gigaliters of water suspended in the atmosphere (Sydney harbor holds 500 gigaliters). While that is only a fraction of the total water on Earth, it still amounts to a substantial source of fresh water.

"Our technology will have application in any region where we have sufficient humidity but limited access to or availability of clean potable water," Dr. Joshi says.

Prof Novoselov says, "This is an excellent example of how interdisciplinary, global collaboration can lead to practical solutions to one of the world's most pressing problems—access to clean water."

The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Finding magic in the bonding

The novel nanomaterial is based on the well-studied form of the graphene oxide, which is a single-atom-thick carbon lattice functionalized with oxygen-containing groups. Graphene oxide has good water adsorption properties, which are properties that enable water to bond to the surface of a material.

Calcium also has good water adsorption properties. The research team decided to see what happened if you intercalate calcium ions (Ca2+) into the graphene oxide.

What happened was unexpected.

An important characteristic of materials that effectively adsorb water is strong hydrogen bonds between the water and the material it adsorbs onto, something that graphene oxide and calcium each have. The stronger the hydrogen bond, the more a material can adsorb water.

But some magic happens when you intercalate calcium to the oxygen in the graphene oxide.

In calcium-intercalated graphene oxide, it is the synergy between calcium and oxygen that facilitates the extraordinary adsorption of water.

What the research team discovered is that the way the calcium coordinates with the oxygen in the graphene changes the strength of the hydrogen bonds between the water and the calcium to make those bonds even stronger.

"We measured the amount of water adsorbed onto graphene oxide by itself and we measured X. We measured the amount of water adsorbed onto calcium itself and we got Y. When we measured the amount of water adsorbed onto the calcium-intercalated graphene oxide we got much more than X+Y. Or it is like 1+1 equals a number larger than 2," says Xiaojun (Carlos) Ren, UNSW School of Materials Science and Engineering and first author on the paper.

"This stronger-than-expected hydrogen bonding is one of the reasons for the material's extreme ability to adsorb water," he says.

It's also light as a feather

There was one more design tweak the team did to enhance the material's water-adsorbing ability they made the calcium-intercalated graphene oxide in the form of an aerogel, one of the lightest solid materials known.

Aerogels are riddled with micro- to nanometer-sized pores, giving them a massive surface area, which helps this aerogel form adsorb water far quicker than the standard graphene oxide.

The aerogel also gives the material sponge-like properties that make the desorption process, or release of the water from the membrane, easier.

"The only energy this system requires is the small amount needed to heat the system to about 50 degrees to release the water from the aerogel," says Professor Daria Andreeva, the co-author of the paper.

The power of the supercomputer

The research is based on experimental and theoretical work that relied on the Australian National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) supercomputer in Canberra.

Professor Amir Karton from the University of New England led the computational work to provide the crucial understanding of the underlying mechanism.

"The modeled simulations done on the supercomputer explained the complex synergistic interactions at the molecular level, and these insights now help to design even better systems for atmospheric water generation, offering a sustainable solution to the growing challenge of fresh water availability in regional Australia and in water-stressed regions across the globe," says Professor Karton.

The power of science without borders:

This is still a fundamental research discovery that needs further development. Industry have collaborated on this project to help scale up this technology and develop a prototype for testing.

"What we have done is uncover the fundamental science behind the moisture adsorption process and the role of hydrogen bonding. This knowledge will help provide clean drinking water to a large proportion of those 2.2 billion people that lack access to it, demonstrating the societal impact by collaborative research from our Center," says COE-CSI Director and one of the co-authors on the paper, Professor Liming Dai.

The research is a global collaboration between research groups from Australia, China, Japan, Singapore and India.

source: ARC Centre of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation/phys.org

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Transparent film uses graphene for stable, light-responsive applications:

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Transparent film uses graphene for stable, light-responsive applications:

Korean researchers have succeeded in developing an innovative transparent film using graphene. This development secures a new material technology that makes it easier to utilize new graphene materials, and it is expected to be widely used in fields such as lasers, optics, displays, and materials in the future.

Researchers at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) have developed a new transparent film that stably disperses graphene. The film's transparency changes depending on the intensity of light, and is expected to be used in a variety of fields, including laser protection devices, smart optical sensors, and artificial intelligence (AI) photonic materials.

Graphene is attracting attention as a next-generation innovative material due to its excellent strength and electrical conductivity. However, it has been difficult to use in actual industries due to the problem of adhering together. Chemical dispersants were used to solve this problem, but it was difficult to keep the graphene's properties intact.

ETRI researchers have developed a new photocurable graphene-dispersed colloid and secured the technology to enable graphene to be stably and uniformly dispersed within a polymer without a dispersant. Based on this, it has become possible to easily manufacture graphene dispersed films and molds.

This graphene colloid is so stable that it can be stored for long periods of time, more than a year, without graphene precipitation. They also used light (UV) to convert the colloidal layer into a hard film, creating a new material that is easy to process while retaining the properties of graphene.

The researchers explained that the technology is environmentally friendly because the graphene-dispersed solution polymerizes to form the film and the entire graphene colloid is used to form the film, so no pollutants are generated. In addition, they explained that since it is a film manufacturing method employing light (UV) curing of the graphene colloid, it is advantageous for commercialization because it can be mass-produced in a continuous process, unlike conventional film-making methods that use molds or polymer solutions.

The developed graphene-dispersed photocurable transparent film can be applied in various industries such as optics, electronics, and AI by utilizing graphene's unique light-regulating properties, or optical nonlinearity.

First, it can detect and block strong light, so it would be great as a laser sensor and protective film to protect your eyes or equipment. It is also expected to be applied to smart optical sensors that can control the intensity of light and detect changes to create more precise advanced sensors, and AI optical materials that AI uses to perform computations using light. Utilizing transparent and uniform films could also have significant implications for the development of high-performance displays and optical devices, the researchers said.

Shin Hyung Cheol, director of the Human Enhancement & Assistive Technology Research Section, said, "This research paves the way for easier utilization of graphene. It will be an innovative material, especially in optical-related components and AI applications.

ETRI researchers plan to continue further research to develop more precise and efficient optical and electronic materials by utilizing graphene's diverse properties. They are also working with related companies to consider cooperation regarding commercialization research and mass production systems.

The ETRI research team published the results of this study in March in the journal Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing.

source : National Research Council of Science and Technology

BASF closes purchase of DOMO Chemicals’ shares in Alsachimie joint venture

BASF has finalized the purchase of DOMO Chemicals’ 49% share in the Alsachimie joint venture, making the company the sole owner of the production entity for essential polyamide (PA) 6.6 precursors, including KA-oil, adipic acid, and hexamethylenediamine adipate (AH salt) in Chalampé, France. The parties have agreed to not disclose financial details of the transaction.

With full ownership of Alsachimie, BASF strengthens its operational footprint at the Chalampé site – its European hub for PA 6.6 production. The strategic decision enhances BASF’s ability to optimize backward integration into key raw materials, ensuring supply reliability and efficiency across the PA 6.6 value chain. For DOMO Chemicals, the transaction aligns with its strategy to continue to focus on delivering tailored polyamide solutions to core industries, including automotive, consumer goods, industrial, and electrical and electronics.

The transaction adds to BASF’s series of recent strategic measures aimed at further strengthening its PA 6.6 production capabilities at Chalampé site, including the newly inaugurated state-of-the-art hexamethylenediamine (HMD) plant as well as the expansion of the PA 6.6 polymerization capacity at the nearby site in Freiburg, Germany.

 

source:BASF

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Henri Becquerel Discovers Radioactivity

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

March 1, 1896: Henri Becquerel Discovers Radioactivity

In one of the most well-known accidental discoveries in the history of physics, on an overcast day in March 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel opened a drawer and discovered spontaneous radioactivity.

Henri Becquerel was well positioned to make the exciting discovery, which came just a few months after the discovery of x-rays. Becquerel was born in Paris in 1852 into a line of distinguished physicists. Following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps, he held the chair of applied physics at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. In 1883 Becquerel began studying fluorescence and phosphorescence, a subject his father Edmond Becquerel had been an expert in. Like his father, Henri was especially interested in uranium and its compounds. He was also skilled in photography.

In early 1896 the scientific community was fascinated with the recent discovery of a new type of radiation. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen had found that the Crookes tubes he had been using to study cathode rays emitted a new kind of invisible ray that was capable of penetrating through black paper. The newly discovered x-rays also penetrated the body’s soft tissue, and the medical community immediately recognized their usefulness for imaging.

Becquerel first heard about Roentgen’s discovery in January 1896 at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences. After learning about Roentgen’s finding, Becquerel began looking for a connection between the phosphorescence he had already been investigating and the newly discovered x-rays. Becquerel thought that the phosphorescent uranium salts he had been studying might absorb sunlight and reemit it as x-rays.

To test this idea (which turned out to be wrong), Becquerel wrapped photographic plates in black paper so that sunlight could not reach them. He then placed the crystals of uranium salt on top of the wrapped plates, and put the whole setup outside in the sun. When he developed the plates, he saw an outline of the crystals. He also placed objects such as coins or cut out metal shapes between the crystals and the photographic plate, and found that he could produce outlines of those shapes on the photographic plates.

Becquerel took this as evidence that his idea was correct, that the phosphorescent uranium salts absorbed sunlight and emitted a penetrating radiation similar to x-rays. He reported this result at the French Academy of Science meeting on February 24, 1896.

Seeking further confirmation of what he had found, he planned to continue his experiments. But the weather in Paris did not cooperate; it became overcast for the next several days in late February. Thinking he couldn’t do any research without bright sunlight, Becquerel put his uranium crystals and photographic plates away in a drawer.

On March 1, he opened the drawer and developed the plates, expecting to see only a very weak image. Instead, the image was amazingly clear.

The next day, March 2, Becquerel reported at the Academy of Sciences that the uranium salts emitted radiation without any stimulation from sunlight.

Many people have wondered why Becquerel developed the plates at all on that cloudy March 1, since he didn’t expect to see anything. Possibly he was motivated by simple scientific curiosity. Perhaps he was under pressure to have something to report at the next day’s meeting. Or maybe he was simply impatient.

Whatever his reason for developing the plates, Becquerel realized he had observed something significant. He did further tests to confirm that sunlight was indeed unnecessary, that the uranium salts emitted the radiation on their own.

At first he thought the effect was due to particularly long-lasting phosphorescence, but he soon discovered that non-phosphorescent uranium compounds exhibited the same effect. In May he announced that the element uranium was indeed what was emitting the radiation.

Becquerel initially believed his rays were similar to x-rays, but his further experiments showed that unlike x-rays, which are neutral, his rays could be deflected by electric or magnetic fields.

Many in the scientific community were still absorbed in following up on the recent discovery of x-rays, but in 1898 Marie and Pierre Curie in Paris began to study the strange uranium rays. They figured out how to measure the intensity of the radioactivity, and soon found other radioactive elements: polonium, thorium, and radium. Marie Curie coined the term “radioactivity” to describe the new phenomenon. Soon Ernest Rutherford separated the new rays into alpha, beta, and gamma radiation, and in 1902 Rutherford and Frederick Soddy explained radioactivity as a spontaneous transmutation of elements. Becquerel and the Curies shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for their work on radioactivity.

The story of Becquerel’s discovery is a well-known example of an accidental discovery. Somewhat less well known is the fact that 40 years earlier, someone else had made the same accidental discovery. Abel Niepce de Saint Victor, a photographer, was experimenting with various chemicals, including uranium compounds. Like Becquerel would later do, he exposed them to sunlight and placed them, along with pieces of photographic paper, in a dark drawer. Upon opening the drawer, he found that some of the chemicals, including uranium, exposed the photographic paper. Niepce thought he had found some new sort of invisible radiation, and reported his findings to the French Academy of Science. No one investigated the effect any further until decades later when Becquerel repeated essentially the same experiment on that gray day in March 1896.

source:aps.org

Black Swan Graphene and METCO Resources Announce Distribution and Sales Agreement in India

Black Swan Graphene Inc. has entered into a non-exclusive distribution and sales agreement with METCO Resources (“METCO”), a major Indian supplier of specialty materials and polymers. The agreement allows METCO to supply Black Swan’s graphene-enhanced masterbatches (GEM™) across a broad range of polymer applications in India.

This partnership supports Black Swan’s efforts to expand its global presence and foster the adoption of graphene-based technologies in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets. Under the agreement, METCO will distribute and promote Black Swan’s graphene nanoplatelets and advanced GEM masterbatch products within India’s industrial, packaging, automotive, and construction sectors.

Michael Edwards, Chief Operating Officer of Black Swan, stated, “This partnership with METCO aligns with our strategy to collaborate with experienced regional players who understand the local market needs and have strong technical and commercial capabilities. India is a rapidly growing market for advanced materials, and we are excited to introduce our graphene-enhanced solutions to a broader audience through this collaboration.”

Jitendra Mehta, Managing Director of METCO, remarked, “We are proud to partner with Black Swan, a recognized innovator in advanced materials. Their graphene-enhanced masterbatches offer tremendous potential to improve performance and sustainability in polymer applications. Our team is eager to bring these next-generation materials to Indian manufacturers seeking to gain a competitive edge.”

Black Swan’s GEM products are engineered to integrate seamlessly into existing polymer manufacturing systems, offering notable improvements in mechanical strength, thermal stability, and barrier properties. This agreement is expected to position both companies to address the increasing demand for high-performance and environmentally sustainable materials in the Indian market.

source: Black Swan Graphene/ Advanced Carbons Council

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Six Automakers Launch ‘BlueRebirth’ Council to Boost Recycled Materials in New Vehicles

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Toray and partners launch council to boost use of recycled materials in new vehicles

DENSO CORPORATION, Toray Industries, Inc., Nomura Research Institute, Ltd., Honda Motor Co., Ltd., MATEC Inc., and REVER CORPORATION announces the establishment of the BlueRebirth Council.

Initiated by these six companies, the Council aims to build a manufacturing and recycling integrated value chain to realize Car-to-Car*1 recycling, starting with automated precision dismantling*2, which efficiently disassembles end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) for material recovery and recycling.

Aim to realize a true car-to-car recycling system

In recent years, the automotive industry has sought to transition to a circular economy to help realize a sustainable society, taking on the significant challenge of reducing natural resource consumption by greatly expanding the use of recycled materials. However, the mainstream global method remains shredding ELVs followed by material sorting, which makes it extremely difficult to secure high purity recycled materials.

Furthermore, collaboration between manufacturing and recycling industries has not been sufficient, and as a result, initiatives to use recycled materials as automotive components— which require both high quality standards and adequate supply volumes for mass production–have not progressed sufficiently. In addition, the automotive recycling industry faces challenges in promoting automation and digitalization and in addressing worker shortages by improving workplace environments.

The newly established BlueRebirth Council aims to address these challenges and, looking ahead to 2035, evolve the automotive recycling industry into a “recycled materials manufacturing industry” that plays a key role as part of a new resource-circulating value chain within the automotive industry. Through these efforts, the companies behind the Council are committed to realizing a true Car-to-Car recycling system.

Automated precision dismantling for high quality recyclates:

As specific initiatives, the Council will engage in discussions and research, as well as advance technology development and demonstration projects together with participating companies, research institutions, and other stakeholders, starting with the automated precision dismantling of ELVs to build a manufacturing and recycling integrated value chain. In addition, it will make recommendations to relevant companies and organizations.

Automated precision dismantling is an advanced intelligent system that utilizes AI and sensor technologies to enable robots to operate along the optimal path even for deformed parts. This not only ensures the quality and volume of recycled materials that were difficult to achieve with conventional methods, but also contributes to fundamentally solving worker shortages. Furthermore, by recording information such as material provenance and environmental impact on a digital platform and sharing it across the manufacturing and recycling value chain, it can ensure a reliable and stable supply of recycled materials.

The Council is committed to expanding the use of recycled materials in automotive recycling and building a manufacturing and recycling integrated value chain toward a Car-to-Car model. Through these efforts, the companies aim to contribute to the realization of a circular economy in the automotive industry.

*1 Car-to-Car: Returning all automobile parts to raw materials, utilizing them in new vehicle production, and creating a closed-loop recycling system.

*2 automated precision dismantling: Automatically performing sophisticated dismantling and precise sorting by leveraging robotics technology and AI-based recognition and decision-making capabilities.

Source: Toray/omnexus.specialchem.com