OCSiAl summit tracks new advances in nanotechnology

Novosibirsk, Russia – Carbon nanotube (CNT)  market leader OCSiAl has staged an industry summit on nanoaugmented materials in Novosibirsk, the location for the world’s largest production facility for single-wall CNTs.

The event, on 14–16 Nov , attracted almost 180 participants from companies that already actively employ nanoaugmented materials in their production processes, said OCSiAl, which supplies CNT products under the Tuball brand,.

The three-day event included roundtable discussions on five pioneering industries in the field of nanoaugmented materials: batteries, elastomers, thermosets, thermoplastics and coatings.

Among those present, global marketing manager of Lanxess Rhein Chemie Additives, Dr Benjamin Bechem reported, “We have presented to the market a line of Tuball-based suspensions branded Rhenofit CNT. And the market has already demonstrated an interest for it.”

According to Eliyahu Florenthal, owner and the president of Israeli colourant solutions company Florma, OCSiAl nanotubes allow his company to manufacture highly competitive products.

“Despite the breakthroughs already achieved, I am confident that the real potential of single wall carbon nanotubes is still ahead. And we will discover the new applications and new markets of their use,” Florenthal predicted.

During the summit, OCSiAl signed new contracts on Tuball and Tuball-based concentrates with five companies: BÜFA Composite Systems, Union Chemicals, IMCD Italia, AGENZIA, and Nanjing LeiQi New Materials. Lothar Kempf,

These enhanced properties can be achieved with loadings hundreds or thousands of times lower than other widely used conductive additives, and starting from concentrations of just 0.01%, the company also notes.

OCSiAl links its dominant position in the market to its “unique technology” for the industrial-scale production of single-wall carbon nanotubes. Products, it said, can made at a price “75 times lower than that of the nearest analogues.”

The company has also developed super-concentrates that simplify the introduction of nanotubes into materials and do not require changes in production processes.