Water Purifier with Biomaster Protection

he Aqua Pure Traveller is a unique water purification system in a convenient hand held water bottle. The advanced filter uses a combination of technologies to disinfect containments in the water that pose a risk to human health.

The Aqua Pure Traveller has been proven to remove the bacteria from the water before drinking, such as E.Coli, Vibrio Cholera and S.pyogenes (the cause of Strep Throat). It also kills parasites that may be present in the water and even viruses such as Polio type 1. This is particularly useful when clean water is scarce such as during natural disasters, expeditions or long outdoor trips in remote areas.

The Aqua Pure Traveller is also perfect for taking abroad and purifying water from hotels and Aqua Pure Traveller restaurants or for outdoor pursuits and taking in water from streams or rivers. It is also available to military specifications.

The bottle part of the Aqua Pure Traveller is blow moulded in LDPE and contains Addmaster's antimicrobial additive: Biomaster, for protection from bacteria and cross contamination. Biomaster is a silver based additive that is effective at stopping the growth of the so called super bugs such as MRSA, E.Coli, Salmonella and Listeria.

Viscoelastic carpet

The German material producer Bayer MaterialScience has announced that it has developed an innovative viscoelastic carpet based on polyurethane foams and a special textile fabric. This new viscoelastic carpet concept is already commercialized by the German company Kymo GmbH under the brand name Pure Moss™. According to the firms, walking across this carpet feels like walking over soft moss. This new viscoelastic carpet is based on a four-layered structure. The top layer is an overlay of bielastic knitted fabric with a soft, long-pile texture. Below this is a viscoelastic polyurethane layer and, underneath that, a rebonded foam made from recycled polyurethane material. The bottom layer in contact with the floor is a thin reinforcing fabric that stabilizes the entire structure and protects the less tear-resistant layers above against tensile forces, for example when laying the carpet. The viscoelastic carpet provides a high level of comfort together with excellent insulating properties. It also dampens impact and airborne noise. Many uses are possible for sports, commercial/public building and domestic applications.

Italy Looses a Million tons

between 2008 and 2009, the sale of virgin plastic in Italy dropped by almost one million tons, down to a level of 6 million tons in 2009. A two step drop: -8% in 2008 and -9% last year.

This is the conclusion of the latest Plastic Trend Synthesis study published by Plastic Consult, the Italian consulting company, which analyzes the trends of all major thermoplastic polymers.

In terms of consumption, the only polymer going against the trend is PET (+2.9%), thanks to the good performance of bottling liquid beverages.

Negative signs are all that’s left for the other thermoplastics: -10,5% for low density and linear low density polyethylene, due to negative trends in palletizing and -8,1% for high density polyethylene, dragged downward by industrial applications (pipes and drums/tanks) and the building market.

Polystyrene’s performance was slightly better than average, with consumption of expanded and compact polymer shown a negative trend of -6.2%. The demand for PVC (-15%) and tehcnopolymers (which dropped between -15% and -20%) was strongly effected by the depression of their major markets of use: Automotive, home appliances, and mechanics.

The national production of polymers also dropped off, in part due to the shutdown of Italian PVC plants. The foreign sales balance degraded further, with imports covering almost 75% of the demand for thermoplastics in Italy during 2009.

Natural Rubber

Some natural latexes are the main ingredient in the extraction of natural rubber, an indispensable raw material for all kinds of industries and essential for the manufacture of surgical gloves, condoms or tyres. All the latex used in Europe is imported, extracted fundamentally from the the Hevea brasiliensis tree. The largest producers in the world are Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, three Asian countries that have practically the worldwide monopoly of this resource. In order to find alternatives to this commercial dependence and promote the cultivation of latex-producing plant species in the European Union, within the VII Framework Programme, a research project is being undertaken in which twelve technological centres, universities and companies related to this matter are taking part.

The Basque Neiker-Tecnalia technological centre is part of this consortium and its function is to carry out research into, amongst other matters, the genotype and the possibilities of introducing into Europe the two plant species to substitute imported natural latex: the Guayule bush (Parthenium argentatum) and the Russian dandelion (Taraxacum kok-saghyz). Guayule is considered to be the most promising crop for Mediterranean zones while the Russian dandelion turns out to be more suitable for northern and eastern Europe.

The technical performance and economic potential of rubber extracted from Guayule and the Russian dandelion are being evaluated through the production of specific prototypes, such as for surgical gloves or tyres. Likewise, the consortium anticipates the creation of a network of collaboration between European research and industrial organisations, to pool knowledge with scientists and government bodies so that Europe does not have to depend so much on imported natural latex.

This European project is studying the creation of a new germplasm of both varieties, a study involving their biochemistry and genetics, genetic improvement, agronomy and the designing of concrete products from the resulting rubber. The genetic study of both plants will be used fundamentally to generate examples that produce greater quantities of latex and that will be commercially viable.

A unique biopolymer

Natural rubber is a unique biopolymer that cannot be substituted by synthetic alternatives in many of its most important applications, such as medical products, condoms, footwear or adhesives. This unique character has driven the European Union to take measures to avoid the latent risk of the producing countries deciding on a co-ordinated rise in the price-fixing of this raw material, as happened with petroleum in the seventies.

Within this project, various aspects of the Russian dandelion will be studied, such as its genome and possibilities of mutagenesis for improving the vigour and yield of the crop, as well as the size of its roots from where the natural latex is extracted. Likewise, the relevant genes involved in the production of latex and rubber will be identified.

Guayule is a crop that has been under study over the last few decades, especially in the U.S. with the goal of increasing the yield and production of its natural rubber. Nevertheless, greater optimisation of its agronomy and its varieties is still required, as well as the development of molecular tools for genetic improvement.

Composite door for French High speed Train

Composite door for the French high-speed train made by RTM-Light

A collaborative industrial project between the American material producer Owens Corning, a world leader in glass fiber reinforcement and building material systems, and the French company Stratiforme Industries has allowed to produce a new composite door for the French high speed train i.e. TGV. This innovation is a lateral cover or engine compartment door made by using a resin transfer molding (RTM-Light) process and Uniconform™ mat as reinforcement while the previous doors were made by hand lay-up. As a result the new composite door exhibits higher characteristics in terms of stiffness, impact resistance, dimensional stability and fire resistance. Moreover the new process allows to reduce the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and styrene emissions.

From Plastic to fuel

http://www.eroei.com/eroei/solutions/turning-plastic-into-oil/

Bayer's CNT

LEVERKUSEN -- Bayer MaterialScience has opened a new pilot facility for the manufacture of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at CHEMPARK Leverkusen. The company has invested some EUR 22 million in the planning, development and construction of the facility, which is the largest of its kind in the world and has an annual capacity of 200 metric tons.This whole Bayer's Baytubes expected 25% growth every year and this will creat 2 billion dollar market within 10 years.This going to provide 100,000 jobs in forthcoming months.

CNTs are manufactured from ethylene in a reactor at an elevated temperature using a catalytic process. "Under the right conditions, the next few years will see nanotechnology becoming a powerful branch of industry in Germany and other places in the world.

Baytubes® are a highly innovative modification of carbon. They can be added to polymer matrices or metal systems as a filler or modifier to improve their mechanical strength and impart electrical properties. Potential applications for Baytubes® include thermoplastic and thermoset systems and coatings. When used in coatings for ships, Baytubes® ensure very high abrasion resistance. At the same time they reduce the flow resistance between the ship's hull and the water, resulting in a significant reduction in fuel consumption. Further applications for carbon nanotubes include rotor blades for wind turbines, and sports equipment such as skis, hockey sticks and surfboards.

Personal View:

So far Nano technology is not been acccepted widely yet.Still many R&D is going on this particulat carbon nanotubes.It's advisable to add CNT to a system where high performance required.Because it seems very expensive based on Single and multiwalled CNT'S.

I hope this CNT has to grow in coming years.Still need to be observed its performance on certain product life cycle.many industry still not ready for adopting this technology in their existed product line.there are many factors and issues need to be addressed before CNT widely accepted by all industries.