Technology

January 9, 2020

Government Work

Battelle To Develop Coal-to-Foam Program

Posted on Nov 25, 2019

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Nov. 25, 2019)—Battelle won a recent United States Department of Energy (DOE) award that has an interesting twist for coal.

The DOE announced that Battelle was among its recipients in funding for cost-shared research and development projects. The project is to be executed in a parallel program with the Ohio Coal Development Office. Battelle will develop a process to convert bituminous coal into polyurethane foam products along with some low-sulfur fuel oil by-product. The results are expected to confirm the commercial viability of a coal-to-high-value solid foam products process.

The value proposition is easy to understand: Coal currently sells for $50 to $60 a ton and polyurethane foams sell for $5,000 to $6,000 per ton. Currently, these expensive foams are made from petroleum products, but coal can be converted by either heat or solvents into a polyol that does the same thing.

Based on research that dates to 1974, Battelle has a patent that uses a solvent to transform coal into such a polyol. The high-value chemical can then be used to make foams for a variety of different products, including insulation for buildings, which is good for the environment.

“This traps the carbon in the rigid insulation foam,” said Satya Chauhan, a scientist, business developer and principal investigator on the project. “This is an important project to illustrate the importance of employing a wide variety of approaches to use fossil fuels in an environmentally responsible way and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we release into the atmosphere.”

The DOE award project number is DE-FE0031795 and the OCDO/ODSA project number is D-19-05.

https://www.battelle.org/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-detail/battelle-to-develop-coal-to-foam-program

January 3, 2020

Spray Foam Used to Move Building Artwork

PHOTOS: Watch workers use liquid foam to preserve Salem’s Peace Mosaic

Salem’s YMCA and Court Street Apartments are nearly reduced to rubble, but a final piece – the removal of the Salem Peace Mosaic – is still underway.

Travis Orr sprays liquid foam between a wood covering and plastic coating the Salem Peace Mosaic in preparation for the mural’s move. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Saving a mosaic on the side of a brick building was a new challenge for most of the people involved in the demolition of Salem’s YMCA.

With the Y-owned apartment building on Court Street nearly demolished, local workers are in the final stages of preserving the community artwork that’s wrapped around the building’s base.

Workers previously cut the mosaic into sections, covered it in plastic and boarded over it to preserve the artwork as the rest of the building is demolished.

The final stage took place Monday, as Travis Orr with Orr Insulation sprayed liquid foam between the layers to hold the mosaic in place.

The artwork should be moved into storage by Jan. 3, field superintendent Jayson Valech said.

The Court Street Apartments near demolition on Dec. 23, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

A worker with Benchmark Concrete Cutting cut the Salem Peace Mosaic into sections for preservation and later transportation during demolition of the Salem YMCA on Dec. 10, 2019

YMCA board president Dan Moore watches demolition underway on Dec. 23, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

The former site of the downtown Salem YMCA as demolition nears completion on Dec. 23, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Travis Orr sprays liquid foam between a wood covering and plastic coating the Salem Peace Mosaic in preparation for the mural’s move. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Travis Orr checks the first segment of the Salem Peace Mosaic after spraying foam behind the wood exterior. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Travis Orr sprays liquid foam between a wood covering and plastic coating the Salem Peace Mosaic in preparation for the mural’s move. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Travis Orr sprays liquid foam between a wood covering and plastic coating the Salem Peace Mosaic in preparation for the mural’s move. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

The Salem Peace Mosaic was covered in plastic, then wood, with a layer of liquid foam between the two to preserve the artwork as it’s moved. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

 

https://www.salemreporter.com/posts/1630/photos-watch-workers-use-liquid-foam-to-preserve-salems-peace-mosaic

January 3, 2020

Spray Foam Used to Move Building Artwork

PHOTOS: Watch workers use liquid foam to preserve Salem’s Peace Mosaic

Salem’s YMCA and Court Street Apartments are nearly reduced to rubble, but a final piece – the removal of the Salem Peace Mosaic – is still underway.

Travis Orr sprays liquid foam between a wood covering and plastic coating the Salem Peace Mosaic in preparation for the mural’s move. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Saving a mosaic on the side of a brick building was a new challenge for most of the people involved in the demolition of Salem’s YMCA.

With the Y-owned apartment building on Court Street nearly demolished, local workers are in the final stages of preserving the community artwork that’s wrapped around the building’s base.

Workers previously cut the mosaic into sections, covered it in plastic and boarded over it to preserve the artwork as the rest of the building is demolished.

The final stage took place Monday, as Travis Orr with Orr Insulation sprayed liquid foam between the layers to hold the mosaic in place.

The artwork should be moved into storage by Jan. 3, field superintendent Jayson Valech said.

The Court Street Apartments near demolition on Dec. 23, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

A worker with Benchmark Concrete Cutting cut the Salem Peace Mosaic into sections for preservation and later transportation during demolition of the Salem YMCA on Dec. 10, 2019

YMCA board president Dan Moore watches demolition underway on Dec. 23, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

The former site of the downtown Salem YMCA as demolition nears completion on Dec. 23, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Travis Orr sprays liquid foam between a wood covering and plastic coating the Salem Peace Mosaic in preparation for the mural’s move. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Travis Orr checks the first segment of the Salem Peace Mosaic after spraying foam behind the wood exterior. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Travis Orr sprays liquid foam between a wood covering and plastic coating the Salem Peace Mosaic in preparation for the mural’s move. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

Travis Orr sprays liquid foam between a wood covering and plastic coating the Salem Peace Mosaic in preparation for the mural’s move. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

The Salem Peace Mosaic was covered in plastic, then wood, with a layer of liquid foam between the two to preserve the artwork as it’s moved. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

 

https://www.salemreporter.com/posts/1630/photos-watch-workers-use-liquid-foam-to-preserve-salems-peace-mosaic

December 2, 2019

BASF Acquires 3D Print Company

BASF acquires 3D printing service provider Sculpteo

 

  11/28/2019 – Heidelberg, Germany – BASF New Business GmbH has formally agreed to acquire the online 3D printing service provider Sculpteo.

 

The agreement was signed on November 14, 2019 and is expected to become effective in the next few weeks pending regulatory approval by the relevant authorities. The acquisition of the French 3D printing specialist based in Paris and San Francisco will enable BASF 3D Printing Solutions GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF New Business GmbH, to market and establish new industrial 3D printing materials more quickly. Sculpteo’s management team fully supports the acquisition and will remain in place to provide customers and partners with this expanded service spectrum. For around a decade already, Sculpteo has operated an online platform with integrated production for the manufacturing of prototypes, individual objects, and serial production components with a range of different additive manufacturing technologies. Customers in various industrial sectors around the world use the Sculpteo service to produce new components rapidly and reliably. BASF will develop the existing Sculpteo 3D printing platform further into a global network. For customers and partners, BASF 3D Printing Solutions will thus be able to offer an additional channel for marketing their services and expanding their own customer bases. “Through the acquisition of Sculpteo, we can provide customers and partners with even faster access to our innovative 3D printing solutions. In addition, our customers will benefit from an extended range of services”, explains Dr. Dietmar Bender, Managing Director BASF 3D Printing Solutions. “Together with Sculpteo, we are pursuing our goal of establishing additive manufacturing as a proven technology for industrial mass production”, says Bender. Combining the strengths of both companies will provide Sculpteo’s existing customers with access to a more extensive portfolio of 3D printing materials. “We are excited to join the BASF team and thus benefit from BASF’s outstanding R&D to provide our customers with innovative solutions”, says Clément Moreau, CEO and Co-Founder of Sculpteo. Moreau will stay with Sculpteo as CEO. Beyond this, the Sculpteo Design Studio and BASF’s technical experts will collaborate to be able to support customers in their 3D printing projects from the early planning phase right through to the final printed part. This will enable BASF to offer its customers end-to-end industrial 3D printing solutions.

http://rubberworld.com/news.asp?id=28865

December 2, 2019

BASF Acquires 3D Print Company

BASF acquires 3D printing service provider Sculpteo

 

  11/28/2019 – Heidelberg, Germany – BASF New Business GmbH has formally agreed to acquire the online 3D printing service provider Sculpteo.

 

The agreement was signed on November 14, 2019 and is expected to become effective in the next few weeks pending regulatory approval by the relevant authorities. The acquisition of the French 3D printing specialist based in Paris and San Francisco will enable BASF 3D Printing Solutions GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BASF New Business GmbH, to market and establish new industrial 3D printing materials more quickly. Sculpteo’s management team fully supports the acquisition and will remain in place to provide customers and partners with this expanded service spectrum. For around a decade already, Sculpteo has operated an online platform with integrated production for the manufacturing of prototypes, individual objects, and serial production components with a range of different additive manufacturing technologies. Customers in various industrial sectors around the world use the Sculpteo service to produce new components rapidly and reliably. BASF will develop the existing Sculpteo 3D printing platform further into a global network. For customers and partners, BASF 3D Printing Solutions will thus be able to offer an additional channel for marketing their services and expanding their own customer bases. “Through the acquisition of Sculpteo, we can provide customers and partners with even faster access to our innovative 3D printing solutions. In addition, our customers will benefit from an extended range of services”, explains Dr. Dietmar Bender, Managing Director BASF 3D Printing Solutions. “Together with Sculpteo, we are pursuing our goal of establishing additive manufacturing as a proven technology for industrial mass production”, says Bender. Combining the strengths of both companies will provide Sculpteo’s existing customers with access to a more extensive portfolio of 3D printing materials. “We are excited to join the BASF team and thus benefit from BASF’s outstanding R&D to provide our customers with innovative solutions”, says Clément Moreau, CEO and Co-Founder of Sculpteo. Moreau will stay with Sculpteo as CEO. Beyond this, the Sculpteo Design Studio and BASF’s technical experts will collaborate to be able to support customers in their 3D printing projects from the early planning phase right through to the final printed part. This will enable BASF to offer its customers end-to-end industrial 3D printing solutions.

http://rubberworld.com/news.asp?id=28865