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Advances in technology across industry

Boosting research into carbon-based materials

Dr Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the board of executive directors of BASF and research executive director, and Prof Dr Klaus Müllen, director Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research cutting the ribbon at the laboratory inauguration ceremony

BASF and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) have opened their joint research and development platform, the Carbon Materials Innovation Centre (CMIC), at BASF’s Ludwigshafen site. A multidisciplinary task force will research the scientific principles and potential applications of innovative carbonised materials. The 12-member international team is composed of chemists, physicists and material scientists. The activities conducted in the 200 square metre laboratory will include synthesising and characterising new materials and evaluating their potential uses in energy and electronic applications.

“We are on the threshold of a new cross-sectional technology that will revolutionise numerous applications and open the way to innovations. The race to discover future applications of carbonbased materials like graphene is in full progress and we want to be among the very front runners when it comes to utilising this potential,” said Dr Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the board of executive directors of BASF and research executive director. “There is a wide range of ideas for applications, including displays or batteries with a vast market potential for these applications.” www.basf.com

Producing titanium powder directly from ores

Metalysis, the UK based specialist metals company, has developed an innovative process that can transform natural rutile sands directly into titanium metal powder in a single step. Rutile is a naturally occurring titanium ore present in beach sands.

The Metalysis process, developed at the company’s plant in Yorkshire, UK, has successfully carried out a series of production runs using rutile feedstock and is now able to produce a range of titanium powders. The breakthrough in the use of rutile ore as the feedstock is part of the decade-long development of a process to provide highly-efficient, cost effective and transformational specialist metals production. Metalysis’ use of rutile ore as a feedstock is a low cost and environmentally benign method of titanium powder production. The new rutile derived titanium powder can be used in a variety of new applications to satisfy the latent demand for a low cost, light weight, high strength and corrosion resistant metal. www.metalysis.com

Sailing the seas of Titan

Humanity has landed a rover on Mars. Now, say scientists, it’s time to land a boat on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. This outlandish scenario could become reality, according to scientists presenting their proposals at the European Planetary Science Congress last September.

The Cassini-Huygens mission, which studied Titan extensively in the 2000s, confirmed that lakes, seas and rivers of liquid hydrocarbons (similar to household gas) exist, covering much of the satellite’s northern hemisphere. Although it eventually landed on solid ground, the Hugyens lander was designed to be able to float for a short period.

The new plans, called the Titan Lake In-situ Sampling Propelled Explorer, proposes a boat-probe, propelled by wheels, paddles or screws. The probe would land in the middle of Ligeia Mare (the biggest lake, near Titan’s north pole), then set sail for the coast, taking scientific measurements along the way. The mission would last around six months to a year.

“The main innovation in TALISE is the propulsion system,” says Igone Urdampilleta (SENER), a member of the TALISE team. “This allows the probe to move, under control, from the landing site in the lake, to the closest shore. The displacement capability would achieve the obtaining of liquid and solid samples from several scientifically interesting locations on Titan’s surface such as the landing place, along the route towards the shore and finally at the shoreline.” www.epsc2012.eu