Nano World: Nano replacement for petroleum

July 10, 2006

The petroleum used to make adhesives, coatings and in the future, inks and even plastics, could get replaced with nanoparticles of sugar and starch, experts told UPI's Nano World.

The starch in the nanoparticles comes from crops, a renewable resource, unlike petroleum, said John van Leeuwen, chairman and chief executive officer of biomaterials company Ecosynthetix in Lansing, Mich.

"Every $10 increase in a barrel of oil leads to an $80 billion a year impact on the national economy," van Leeuwen added. "Our technology became interesting once oil went above $25 a barrel."

Cardboard manufacturers alone currently use roughly four billion pounds of starchy adhesive a year across 1,700 plants worldwide to glue together the paper layers that make up corrugated containers, van Leeuwen explained. This market alone represented $3 billion in 2005.

Natural starch particles are roughly 30 microns or millionths of a meter wide. Ecosynthetix bases its technology on converting these granules into ones just 50 to 150 nanometers or billionths of a meter large. At that size, the nanoparticles have 400 times more surface area than natural starch granules. This means they require less water when in use for adhesives and thus less time and energy to dry. Instead of running at 350 degrees F, drying can take place at room temperature instead, saving $1 million in natural gas per year, van Leeuwen said.

"You get higher output due to reducing the cooling time needed, and there's also less warping of the paper due to lack of heat, which leads to higher paper strength," van Leeuwen added. Ecosynthetix is now converting two plants to run on their adhesives.

The nanoparticle adhesives could also help replace the polyvinyl acetate, PVA, and polyvinyl alcohol, PVOH, used to help laminate graphics onto cardboard. The market for PVA and PVOH in lamination was $1.3 billion in 2005, van Leeuwen said. The company's first customer in this application is a large Ohio producer of McDonald's clamshells, he added.

The nanoparticles could also find use as the first biosynthetic waterborne starch latex, to replace up to 75 percent of the petroleum-based latex known as SBR, used nowadays as a binder in paper coatings, which constituted a $2 billion market in 2005. "The price of SBR latex keeps rising, up 100 percent in the last three years, with another 10 to 20 percent rise expected in 2006. We could price 20 to 25 percent below PVA and SBR to gain entry and market share," van Leeuwen said.

"What they're offering is quite impressive -- if it's accepted by the market," said Neil Gordon, president of the Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance and nanotechnology industry analyst with Montreal-based technology analyst firm Sygertech. "Their biggest challenge, as it is for any nanomaterials company is securing the first major account."

"We hope in the next couple of months for our first large customer to sign up to use this new binder," van Leeuwen said.

A large number of resins used in the multibillion-dollar ink and toner industry also mostly are based on petroleum. "Our technology looks good for that space. We've gotten good initial results there, although we haven't launched products for that industry yet," van Leeuwen said.

Ecosynthetix could in the future also help create biopolyesters as construction blocks for plastics. DuPont has already demonstrated a biopolyester, van Leeuwen noted, "but our technology would create a biopolyester that is the other commonly used building block."

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

4.2 /5 (30 votes)  

Rank 4.2 /5 (30 votes)
Tags

Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

'Dark plasmons' transmit energy

Microscopic channels of gold nanoparticles have the ability to transmit electromagnetic energy that starts as light and propagates via "dark plasmons," according to researchers at Rice University.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created 14 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Nanotube therapy takes aim at breast cancer stem cells

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers have again proven that injecting multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into tumors and heating them with a quick, 30-second laser treatment can kill them.

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created 19 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New kind of solar cell could capture significantly more energy than current cells

New solar cells could increase the maximum efficiency of solar panels by over 25%, according to scientists from the University of Cambridge.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 14 | with audio podcast

New technology platform for molecule-based electronics

Researchers at the Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen have developed a new nano-technology platform for the development of molecule-based electronic components using the wonder material graphene. At the same ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created 21 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Nanoshell whispering galleries improve thin solar panels

Visitors to Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building may have experienced a curious acoustic feature that allows a person to whisper softly at one side of the cavernous, half-domed room and for another on ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 6 | with audio podcast


Breastfeeding protects against asthma up to six years of age

(Medical Xpress) -- Research by the University of Otago in Christchurch and Wellington has shown that breastfeeding of infants has a clear protective effect against children developing asthma or wheezing up to six years of ...

Study finds stress hormones fluctuate with mood during pregnancy

(Medical Xpress) -- While pregnant, women pay particular attention to factors such as diet and exercise to ensure their babies are born healthy and develop normally. New research from the University of Calgary’s Faculty ...

Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago

(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...

Japan scientist makes 'Avatar' robot

A Japanese-developed robot that mimics the movements of its human controller is bringing the Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar" one step closer to reality.

Protein libraries in a snap

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Rice University undergraduate will depart with not only a degree but also a possible patent for his invention of an efficient way to create protein libraries, an important component of biomolecular ...

Miami battling invasion of giant African snails

No one knows how they got there. But an invasion of African giant snails has southern Florida in a panic over potential crop damage, disease and general yuckiness surrounding the slimy gastropods.