Indian oil giant buys into Australian super-material
India’s largest company has signed a provisional deal with Perth green energy developer, Eden Energy Limited, to test, in association with researchers from the University of Queensland, the commercial potential of a form of carbon believed to be the strongest structural material known to man.
The agreement provides for the piloting of commercial-scale production of a unique molecular form of carbon known as nanotubes, which their developers say hold significant promise for the emergence of ultra-strong, lightweight materials for the 21st century.
Under a non-binding terms sheet signed in India this week, the Delhi-based Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), subject to certain conditions, will farm-in to the development of a new pyrolysis technology jointly conceived by Eden and the University of Queensland. IOCL‘s involvement will be managed by its R&D division, which operates an AUD 250 million world-class R&D facility at Faridabad near Delhi.
The process separates methane gas (the major component of natural gas) into its hydrogen and carbon constituents in order to manufacture tiny but 'phenomenally strong' cylinders of carbon atoms.
The miniature, plastic-like nanotubes have been attracting growing attention in construction, electronics and medical circles for their unrivalled tensile strength – measured at up to several hundred times that of steel.
The nanotubes also exhibit strong electrical conductivity, near weightlessness, elasticity, and unique medical properties.
“This is really one of science’s Holy Grails – to prove that carbon nanotubes can be produced in commercial quantities and at an affordable price,” Eden Energy’s chairman, Greg Solomon, said.
“It can open the door to literally hundreds of potential applications in the construction, electronics, transport and medical industries,” Mr Solomon said.
“These nanotubes are already used in the construction of spacecraft and the latest commercial aircraft and Formula One racing cars, but the beauty of our process is that it does not produce carbon dioxide as a by-product, only hydrogen, itself a totally clean and very valuable fuel.
“If we can create these incredible natural building blocks from something as simple and plentiful as na... Next Page
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