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16 PRoJeCt HoUse sYsteMs InteGRAtIon e-sPInnInG Fine dust doesn’t stand a chance One of the technical highlights from the Project House Systems Integration is a new generation of polymer-based filter materials that can be used to separate fine dust from the waste gases of such installations as incinerators or cement plants. In cooperation with external machine manufacturers, this electrospinning process, as it is called, has been developed for the highly temperature-resistant Polyimide P84 all the way to the pilot production scale. The secret to this material is fibers with a diameter significantly below one micrometer: In purely mathematical terms, a purchase order of one gram of polymer yields a fiber length of about 5,000 kilometers. This creates an extremely finely woven filter medium. In electrospinning, a P84 solution is set in an electrical field under high voltage. When a certain electrical field strength is reached, the dosing electrode forms a “fiber jet” in the direction of the counter electrode. The solvent evaporates and a fine fleece forms on a substrate in front of the counter electrode. The fibers are then stuck together and fixed on a stable support fabric. In close cooperation with the Performance Polymers Business Unit, the developers in the project house have created the basis for optimizing the filtration properties of the fiber material with an eye toward their end application. The newly acquired electrospinning plant in the project house even allows small-scale internal pilot production at Evonik Industries. This, in turn, will enable researchers to evaluate the ability of other polymers to be spun in this same way. elements39 Issue 2|2012 A close-meshed filter medium for the deposition of fine particles, produced by electrospinning 333 But the key to commercial success for these composites is cost-efficient mass production. This was a special focus of the project, and there was a surprising result: There is not just one economical process but a number of processes that provide the best cost efficiency, depending on the component and piece count. Micromagnets in new applications VP MAGSILICA® are highly versatile magnetic particles. The brownish powder consists of ultrafine iron oxides embedded in a dense silicon dioxide matrix. Through induction, VP MAGSILICA® can be heated to over 500 °C in a few seconds without stirring. So the push of a button, for example, can generate local heat, such as that required by chemical crosslinking reactions, which can be accelerated significantly by the heat supply. These applications were investigated in the Bonding on Demand project. Here, project house employees worked with equipment manufacturers and the Inorganic Materials Business Unit to develop new expertise in the inductive heating of plastics and adhesives, and build a complete application technology. With the help of mobile induction units, potential customers conducted pilot tests in production and addressed a number of issues: How do we work VP MAGSILICA® into an adhesive or a rubber? How should we construct and design the induction apparatus? How do we achieve the best heat input? One of the big potential applications for VP MAG- SILICA® is the crosslinking (vulcanization) of rubber profiles. In this process, the powder is added in small concentrations to the rubber formulation and heated immediately after extrusion, thereby vulcanizing the rubber. It became clear that the mechanical properties of the hardened profiles are comparable to conventionally vulcanized rubbers. Even modern insulating glass panes can be bonded faster and easier with the superparamagnetic powder. Normally, the double panes of modern windows are placed and bonded together in the edge region by an aluminum spacer. In order to fulfill the requirements of the upcoming thermal insulation regulation, the aluminum will be omitted as a thermal bridge. In cooperation with a hotmelt adhesive manufacturer, the project house has developed a mounting process by which the aluminum spacer can be replaced by plastic. Three years of work in the Project House Systems Integration have been crowned with success: At the end of the third year, all nine projects are still alive and continue to look promising. Seven of the nine projects have already been sent back to the par ti -
On the way to the market cipating business lines, while the other two will conclude by the middle of this year. The individual business units now have the task of taking the technical development results to market readiness. As different and multi-faceted as the projects are, they are quite similar in their strategic objectives: They contribute to energy and resource efficiency and advance the development of more sustainable products and processes for Evonik and its partners and customers. At the same time, the innovations increase the competitiveness of the company by opening up forward-looking markets, and by strengthening customer loyalty through practical solutions with high added value. The results of these projects are important not least because the Project House Systems Integration was planned and prepared in the midst of the economic crisis. But instead of slowing down work on the projects, it proved to be a challenge and opportunity for everyone involved. The Group’s decision to invest in interdisciplinary and demanding research, even in economically challenging times, turned out to be the right strategy. Planning the project house based on the prevailing economic conditions did nothing to detract from its success. 777 PRoJeCt HoUse sYsteMs InteGRAtIon with vP MAGSILICA®, adhesives and plastics can be inductively heated to accelerate the crosslinking reaction. the Bonding on Demand project investigated the best way to coordinate the product and processing technology to achieve optimal results dr. Michael olbrich is the head of the Project House Systems Integration. After studying chemistry at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg and receiving his PhD from the Institute for Macromolecular Chemistry there, he started his career in 1995 in the construction chemicals industry at the Polymer Institute Dr. R. Stenner GmbH, as an assistant to the CEO. In 1999, he was hired to be head of molded foam application technology at PolymerLatex GmbH & Co. KG. In 2001, he took a job with Evonik Röhm GmbH in the Binders and Additives Business Line. His last job there was head of global sales for the Road Mar king and Casting Resins business segment. Since 2008, he has been working on the preliminary feasi bility study for the Project House Systems Integration at Creavis. +49 6181 59-4976, michael.olbrich@evonik.com 17 elements39 Issue 2|2012
Page 1 and 2: elements39 Quarterly Science newsle
Page 3 and 4: esources In 2011, Evonik generated
Page 5 and 6: “Tablets and sprays are more conv
Page 7 and 8: “There’s no success without tru
Page 9 and 10: “If you want to develop advanced
Page 11 and 12: work of the project houses focuses
Page 13 and 14: cessing method for an innovative ap
Page 15: ficantly smaller piece counts, they
Page 19 and 20: sorrow were still part of everyday
Page 21 and 22: Honorary professorship for Dr. Klau
Page 23 and 24: evonik invests in High-tech Gründe
Page 25 and 26: it Remains a challenge for catalysi
Page 27 and 28: Figure 3 Performance profiles of va
Page 29 and 30: Patients Who suffeR from stomach or
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Page 33 and 34: dr. Markus Braun, 45, is a trained
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Page 37 and 38: Left: One rapidly growing market th
Page 39 and 40: says Fengler. “And we don’t all
Page 41 and 42: At an exhibition in Darmstadt, the
Page 43 and 44: Creavis starts with new BISOn proje

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