ADDITIVES | NANOCOMPOSITES
Right:
NanoXplore has acquired the assets of long-standing rival XG Sciences and is moving them to its HQ at Montreal in Canada
— which includes the GSE and TenCate brands — signed a blanket purchase order following a five-year technical cooperation to develop new products for the environmental infrastructure market. Moghimian describes it as “a turning point in the industrial-scale adoption of GrapheneBlack as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to carbon black”.
Below: Graphene production at NanoXplore’s site in Montreal in Canada
Solmax has not disclosed details of the development, citing IP and strategic reasons to Compounding World. However, Solmax CEO, Jean-Louis Vangeluwe says the work will allow it “to launch a next-generation product based on graphene technology that solves some of our customers’ sustainability challenges while also boosting performance.” Moghimian also references the OEM approval of its polyamide brake line-tubing compound, which he says is currently used in vehicles on the road in North America. In addition, the Canadian Stand- ards Association recently approved NanoXplore’s graphene for use in PE-based compounds for production of storm sewer and drainage pipe and fittings. And last year, the company announced an agreement to supply its GrapheneBlack materials to US-based compounder Techmer PM. GrapheneBlack is said to be particularly effective in modification of PE compounds. The company
IMAGE: NANOXPLORE
recently published a case study that demonstrated that a small addition of its graphene could allow significant amounts of PCR to be used in HDPE products without loss of physical properties. It is expected that this could lead to applications such as corrugated pipes and geosynthetics as well as general injection moulded parts. The addition of GrapheneBlack to PE can also
eliminate or significantly reduce usage of other additives such as compatibilisers, stabilisers, processing aids, UV additives, and carbon black, he says.
Meeting demand Performance and regulatory clearance are very important but need to be backed by supply availability. In 2020, NanoXplore commissioned what it claims to be the world’s largest graphene powder production facility in the world at Montreal. The facility is capable of producing 4,000 tonnes/ year (equivalent to around 35% of global graphene powder capacity). According to Moghimian, the company’s graphene powder can be manufactured at a cost in line with conventional additives for polymers. The production process is also said to be
particularly efficient in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “Through a certified third-party audit, we have recently demonstrated that our GHG emission intensity for graphene powder production in Montreal is more than 85% less than commonly used carbon blacks,” he says. The production plant is located alongside a compounding plant for graphene masterbatch production. However, at the end of last year NanoXplore also acquired Canuck Compounders, which operates an 18,000 tonnes/year plant at Cambridge in Ontario. The company says the acquisition provides it with expertise in develop- ment and production of sustainable, recycled plastics compounds and formulations for use in transportation, construction, agriculture, and packaging applications, as well as considerably increasing its graphene compounding capability.
12 COMPOUNDING WORLD | October 2022
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IMAGE: NANOXPLORE
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