US company to trial nano-carbon in rubber

ERJ staff report (DS)

Denver, Colorado -- A new project to convert methane to nano-carbon and hydrogen is testing the resulting carbon in rubber applications. The company plans to break apart methane by a pyrolysis process to generate a range of carbon products, including carbon nanotubes. Thermal black is a carbon black material made from methane, but that is not made by pyrolysis; instead it is made by partial combustion of the methane.

The new process is being developed by Hythane Company LL, in Denver, Colorado. Hythane is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australian company, Eden Energy Limited.

Hythane expects the experimental facility to be producing carbon during September, and is researching various application areas, including rubber and tyre compounding. The company said in a press release, "A laboratory, which serves the tyre industry, was selected in July 2011 to perform process,

physical, dynamic, and application-specific tests with various loading levels of nano-carbon

materials in a representative tyre rubber compound. Seven sample batches will be mixed and

cured for a range of tests including viscosity, hardness, tensile strength, elongation strength,

and abrasion and tear resistance. Final data and reporting is expected by October 2011."

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Press release from Hythane