Tag Archives: Inno.CNT

No more carbon nanotubes from Bayer MaterialScience

A May 8, 2013 news item on Nanowerk proclaims,

Bayer MaterialScience intends to focus its development activities more intently on topics that are closely linked to its core business. For that reason the company will bring its work on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to a close. Precisely how the research results and know-how for the production and application CNT will be used further will be determined shortly.

Researchers from Bayer MaterialScience had collaborated with external partners in recent years to resolve complex issues related to the safe production of specific carbon nanotubes. [emphasis mine] Methods for scaling up the production processes were developed, as were new generations of catalysts and new types of products.

The timing for this announcement from Bayer MateriaScience is interesting given that the US National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) just announced some stringent recommendations (almost zero) for occupational exposure to carbon nanofibers and carbon nanotubes (my Apr. 28, 2013 posting).

The May 8, 2013 Bayer MaterialScience news release, which originated the news item, provides more detail about the business decision,

Much of the knowledge gleaned over recent years was made available to other companies and research institutions within the Innovation Alliance Carbon Nanotubes (Inno.CNT), which counts Bayer MaterialScience among its roughly 90 members.

“We remain convinced that carbon nanotubes have huge potential,” says Patrick Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of Bayer MaterialScience. It has been found, however, that the potential areas of application that once seemed promising from a technical standpoint are currently either very fragmented or have few overlaps with the company’s core products and their application spectrum.

“For Bayer MaterialScience, groundbreaking applications for the mass market relating to our own portfolio and therefore comprehensive commercialization are not likely in the foreseeable future,” says Thomas. Nonetheless, this know-how provides an important basis for a possible later use of CNT, for example in the optimization of lithium ion batteries, Thomas says. “We are currently in contact with potential interested parties regarding the specific application of the know-how generated,” Thomas adds.

The conclusion of the nano projects has no impact on the headcount. All 30 people employed in this sector will be transferred to other suitable positions within the Group.

I”m glad to hear no one will lose their job.

Finally, I recall reading somewhere that there was a glut of carbon nanotube production and taking that with the recent NIOSH recommendation and Bayer’s claim of poor prospects for commercialization, it seems like one of those decisions that made itself.

ETA May 20, 2013: Dexter Johnson provides some insight into carbon nanotube production and the glut in his May 18, 2013 posting on Nanoclast (on the IEEE [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers] website),

This [Bayer MaterialScience decision] is no surprise since there was a huge glut of product resulting in industry utilization rates that must have been in the single digits. This oversupplied market was the result of a MWNT [multi-walled nanotube] capacity arms race that started in the mid-2000s.

I recommend reading the rest of the posting where Dexter goes on to describe how pricing dropped precipitously from 2006 to 2009  and the resultant efforts to develop markets for the product.