ASX Quarterly Report For the Period Ended 31 December 2010 5 January 2011
Small Commercial Scale Continuous Production Unit Planned in US The second stage of the scale-up, to build a prototype of a modest sized, commercial scale, continuous production unit, will commence in the first quarter of 2011with a target completion date of the end of 2011. This unit is planned to be significantly larger than the first prototype unit that has already been successfully trialed, and is presently planned to have an output capacity of between 25-100 tonnes per annum of carbon nanotubes.
Growth of Carbon Nanotube and Carbon Fibre Market There is a new but rapidly growing commercial market for these forms of solid carbon, particularly for carbon nanotubes, with current wholesale prices ranging from between US$300- $700 per kilogram and up to $4000 per kilogram depending primarily upon the type of carbon nanotubes but also on the size of the order. As an indication of anticipated market growth, one major international chemical manufacturer, Bayer Material Science, reports on its website that in 2009 it was designing a pilot scale unit with capacity to produce 200 tonnes per year of carbon nanotubes and its vision is to build a 3000 tonnes per annum capacity, production scale unit, possibly in 2011. They also state that tests have shown that when 1% of their carbon nanotubes are mixed with concrete it increases its compressive strength by up to 45%.
Since then Hythane Company has been refining its techniques to evenly disperse the carbon and has now developed a greatly improved technique which enhances the even dispersion of carbon nanomaterials in concrete and/or mortar composites. As previously announced, even dispersion of the carbon is perhaps the major obstacle in the quest to develop bulk commercial applications for the unique properties of great strength and thermal and electrical conductivity that nano-carbon materials provide. Sufficiently dispersed carbon nano-fibres (CNF) and carbon nano-tubes (CNT) have been shown to be highly beneficial when added to concrete/mortar. Nano-carbon can increase various orientations of concrete strength by bridging the gaps across micro-cracks which occur from initial set of cement. These micro-cracks gradually grow to form much larger macro-cracks, which expose reinforcement and allow severe damage to the integrity of a structure or structural member. Even and adequate dispersion of the carbon nano-materials is difficult. The Vander Waals forces holding the fibres/tubes together are incredibly strong, requiring a form of mechanical disturbance to achieve dispersion. Further investigation into the method of dispersing the nano-carbon has yielded an improved technique, which is anticipated, will help to significantly increase strength when incorporated into the mixing methodology of concrete and/or mortar.
One company, Cheap Tubes, Inc. has been manufacturing and selling carbon nanotubes since 2005 and at the time of the announcement were making single walled carbon nanotubes available for both research and industrial purposing. In 2005, the answer to the question, “How much do nanotubes cost” was “forty cents per gram when you purchase a metric ton”—for reference, a metric ton is the equivalent of one million grams. In 2008, the cost of purchasing carbon nanotubes from Cheap Tubes, Inc. had more than doubled and the answer the answer to how much do nanotubes cost rose to ninety five cents per gram.
This was due at the time to the rising demand for carbon nanotubes when manufacturing could not keep up with the demand in the worldwide marketplace.
Looking across the marketplace today, it’s easy to see that supply and demand continues to play in favor of the manufacturers, where there is much more demand than there is product available. And the answer today to the ever resounding question, “how much do nanotubes cost” is “anywhere from $95 to $500 per gram.”
http://nanogloss.com/nanotubes/how-much-do-nanotubes-cost/#axzz2iz5stJPx ------------------------------------------------------------ As you can see the tubes and nano fibers bridge the little cracks in the concrete, they also create a conductivity in the concrete allowing you to earth out in a slab or attach sensors to a bridge and measure the changes in conductivity as the bridge naturally moves, not sure if pen hardener can do the same?
We also can make tubes cheaper and only have hydrogen as a byproduct.
Hope this has been of some help, didn't look long
EDE Price at posting:
1.8¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
