Company promises to “double current global production” of single wall carbon nanotubes at “unrivalled low production costs”
OCSiAl, an international technology firm headquartered in Luxembourg with manufacturing operations in Novosibirsk, Russia, claims it has developed
a “breakthrough technology” for the production of single wall carbon nanotubes (‘SWCNTs’), which enables large scale, commercial production of SWCNT.
Carbon nanotubes, which are thought to offer huge potential for the plastics and composites industries, could open up new fields of application as well as vastly improving mechanical properties of finished parts.
Estimated production of the SWCNTs is one tonne for the first year, which doubles current global production levels according to different estimates. Potential annual capacity of OCSiAl production is currently 10 tonnes. The group says that this method is easily scalable and capable of producing an unlimited quantity of SWCNTs at a very low cost.
The announcement of the new synthesis process was made at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining by OCSiAl spokesmen Yuri Koropachinskiy, President, and Mikhail Predtechenskiy, Chief Technology Officer and inventor of the new synthesis method. OCSiAl’s production method is said to be based on notable findings in plasma chemistry and physics, combining to produce high-performance synthesis of SWCNTs, which the firm promises will allow “literally unlimited output and unrivalled low production costs”.
Nanotechnology company, Zyvex Technologies, has already begun integrating OCSiAl nanomaterials into its products. “The use of SWCNTs could open the door to fundamental change in many industries, but there has always been an invincible obstacle: SWCNTs were only available in small quantities at sky-high prices, and quality wasn’t guaranteed. OCSiAl helps make nanotechnology applicable for many companies desperate for a commercially viable materials innovation,” said Lance Criscuolo, President of Zyvex Technologies.
The output, ‘as produced,’ will be sold under the brand name Tuball, yielding 75% and more of top quality SWCNTs, with impurities from catalyst particles encapsulated in carbon shells. The content of free metal particles does not exceed 1%, claims the group. Numerous laboratory and industrial tests have reportedly proved Tuball’s ability to serve as a universal additive, enhancing mechanical strength and the thermal and electrical conductivity of materials that include composites, polymers, rubbers, metals, batteries, transparent conductive films and others.
Improvements in performance have reportedly been observed with addition rates of 0.001%-0.1% of Tuball.
Yuri Koropachinskiy said: “The unique combination of technical properties makes Tuball a sort of high-tech panacea which can drastically improve any known material’s properties even if added in very-low-quantities. By introducing Tuball OCSiAl sets a standard for a whole new product class that was never seen before. These are premium quality single wall carbon nanotubes supplied in sufficient amounts at commercially viable terms.” He added, “If single wall carbon nanotubes were discovered today they would have been called graphene tubes.”
Free samples of Tuball can be ordered now and shipped from OCSiAl stockhouses in Europe, Asia and the US. The commercial price for Tuball starts from $2000 per kg (€1458 at publication).