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Kinetrex Energy, EDL and South Side Landfill celebrated the completion of the Indy High BTU plant at the Indianapolis South Side Landfill. The plant, which will be fully operational March 20, will convert landfill methane gas into approximately 8 million gallons of pipeline-quality renewable natural gas each year, and in the process, reduce greenhouse gas air emissions in Central Indiana, develop a local renewable resource and lower fuel costs. Indy High BTU is the largest biomethane plant in Indiana. “This is an exciting day for our city,” said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. “We are pleased to see Kinetrex Energy, a homegrown-Indianapolis company, spearheading the effort to provide cleaner, renewable fuel for transportation across the Midwest.” With construction now complete, Indy High BTU will begin supplying Kinetrex Energy with renewable natural gas, which Kinetrex will turn into LNG and sell to Midwest transportation fleets. Kinetrex recently announced a six-year agre

IDI Composites International is introducing a new thermoset composite material delivering critical performance benefits for the "new energy vehicles" market. Deployed in electric vehicle (EV) new energy vehicles (NEV) applications, Flamevex is a flame-resistant lightweight composite. Flamevex has been used on battery packs, which have passed the stringent Chinese Standard GB/T 31467.3 test, commonly known as the China bonfire test. This new thermoset, offers designers a strong, lightweight and cost-effective alternative to steel and aluminum materials traditionally used to enclose battery packs in EVs and NEVs. EV and NEV designers have long faced the dilemma of balancing flame resistance, strength and light weighting requirements as they develop solutions for critical applications like the vehicle battery enclosure. Battery packs take up significant space in vehicle designs and must offer dimensional strength as well as resistance to flame and high temperatures. St

In a recent carbon fiber production demonstration, 4M Carbon Fiber announces that it has produced a 15% stronger carbon fiber while tripling production output using their atmospheric plasma oxidation technology.. The results offer industry-disrupting opportunities for carbon fiber manufacturers, demonstrating the ability to produce better carbon fiber while spreading capital and operating costs over three times the production capacity. 4M is exploring ways to license this technology to end users worldwide. In collaboration with Formosa Plastics Corporation, a commercial carbon fiber producer, and the Department of Energy’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN, 4M’s team oxidized Formosa’s precursor using the internationally-patented technology developed by 4M and ORNL. The fiber was then carbonized, surface-treated, and sized at the CFTF. The carbon fiber properties were then tested at the CFTF using industrial testing methodolo

New Transparent Bioplastic with UV Radiation Blocking Property Researchers at the University of Oulu's research unit of sustainable chemistry have developed a new synthetic and transparent bioplastic that protects from the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Biopolymer Made of HMF and Furfural The raw materials used in the biopolymer production are hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural, which are biorefinery products derived from cellulose and hemicellulose. By chemically linking them, the researchers were able to create copolymer parts with both bisfuran and furan-like structures. The bisfuran structure of the copolymer effectively prevents UV radiation from passing through a film made from the material. In addition, the airtightness of the material is three to four times that of standard PET plastic. The material can be used in high-tech applications, such as chassis materials for printed electronics. A patent application is filed for this method. Source: University of Oulu

The Lyding Group has recently developed a technique that can be used to build carbon-nanotube-based fibers by creating chemical crosslinks. The technique improves the electrical and mechanical properties of these materials. “ Carbon nanotubes are strong and are very good at conducting heat and electricity. Therefore, these materials have wide applications and can be used as strong fibers, batteries, and transistors ,” said Gang Wang, a postdoctoral research associate in the Lyding lab, which is at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. New Method Based on Linking Individual CNTs Together There are many ways to build materials that have carbon-nanotube-based fibers. “ Airplane wings can be made, for example, by embedding these fibers in a matrix using epoxy. The epoxy acts as a binder and holds the matrix together .” said Joseph Lyding, the Robert C. MacClinchie distinguished professor of electrical and compu

Toxicologists have developed a new  biodegradable packaging  that helps cosmetics firms meet customers’ demand for environmentally friendly packaging at Heriot-Watt University. The new packaging solves a conundrum for cosmetics firms that currently sell organic, ‘clean’ products in plastic containers made from fossil fuel products that cannot degrade and will forever remain in landfill. PLA-based New Packaging The new packaging is made from  polylactic acid (PLA) , which can be obtained from renewable resources like corn starch or sugar cane and is compostable and biodegradable. Polylactic acid (PLA) was selected as the plastic for the new packaging, but in order to improve the performance of this plastic, and to increase the shelf life of the cosmetic product, two different materials were incorporated.  Nano clays and rosemary extract were added as the nano clays improve the barrier properties of the product and rosemary extract acts as an antioxidant to protect the cosmeti

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued an update of the risk assessment of the phthalates DBP, BBP, DEHP, DINP and DIDP for use in food contact materials. EFSA reviewed the safe levels for the five phthalates in plastic FCM and evaluated whether current dietary exposure to them posed a concern for public health. Setting a New Safe Level EFSA experts have now set a new safe level – a group Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) – for four of the five phthalates (DBP, BBP, DEHP and DINP) of 50 micrograms per kilogram of body weight (µg/kg bw) per day based on their effects on the reproductive system. The TDI is an estimate of the amount of a substance that people can ingest daily during their whole life without any appreciable risk to health. The key effect on which this group-TDI is based is a reduction in testosterone in fetuses. The fifth phthalate in the assessment, DIDP, does not affect testosterone levels in fetuses, therefore we set a separate TDI of 150 µg/kg bw per