Adesso and Connora Partnership to Accelerate Delivery of Breakthrough Recyclable Thermoset Plastics
Wuxi, Jiangsu, China & Hayward, CA. USA (PRWEB) May 21, 2014 -- Adesso Advanced Materials (China) and Connora Technologies, Inc. (USA) today announced a formal partnership to accelerate the delivery of a novel recyclable epoxy resin technology, capable of changing market dynamics in the thermoset plastics industry. Their proprietary cleavable polyamine technology, offered as Recyclamine® and Cleavamine®, by Connora and Adesso respectively, allows cured epoxy thermoset plastics to be degraded under a specified chemical process.
Borrowing from the field of responsive polymers, commonly used in the pharmaceutical and electronics industries today, this specific class of polyamines can be used as an epoxy resin curative, and then degraded into a thermoplastic. The availability of degradable thermoset plastics would enable the recycling and reclamation of high value composite materials (carbon fiber, precious metals, plastics), from both post-industrial and post-consumer composite waste. Similar to the estimated $60 billion thermoplastic industry today, the creation of a secondary market for reclaimed composite materials also has significant market potential. “Availability of degradable thermoset plastics will create new markets in industries where hundreds of thousands of tons of composite waste are generated annually; such as aerospace, electronics (PCB), automotives, and wind energy,” says Dr. Bo Liang, one of the co-inventors of the technology, Chairman and CEO of Adesso Advanced Materials.
Dr. Stefan Pastine, during a postdoc fellowship at the University of California Berkeley, originally conceived the re-workable epoxy thermoset technology in 2009. Dr. Pastine joined Adesso as Director of R&D in 2010, where Adesso developed the first generation of degradable curing agents. In 2011, Dr. Pastine left Adesso to form Connora Technologies in the US, and obtained a license of the technology from Adesso in an effort to focus on refining the chemistry and manufacturing behind the Recyclamine® class of degradable molecules, which Adesso aims to offer in some of its formulations and application products.
Unlike modern thermoplastic recycling, the concept of recycling thermoset plastics is still nascent: “Both Connora and Adesso realized early on that the problem {of recycling thermoset composite waste} will be much bigger than any one company can tackle alone,” stated Dr. Pastine, CTO of Connora. “We {the industry} need to develop not just a single technology or chemistry, but rather an entire eco-system of parties willing to build a new industry around thermoset recycling. We are pleased to formally announce our partnership with Adesso as pioneers in developing this eco-system. We hope others share our vision, and find this as an opportunity to build upon the technology.” Dr. Bo Liang further commented, “Forming a strategic partnership with Connora again is a major milestone to accelerate the delivery of the technology to market. Connora will
focus on the volume manufacturing chemistries and further development of the Recyclamine® curing agents, while Adesso Advanced Materials expands into other classes of Cleavamine® curatives and broadens its activities downstream to include the design of recyclable epoxy formulations for liquid and compression molding processes and the establishment of pilot scale composite recycling facilities. Both companies hope the partnership will yield near term use of the technologies and products in the composites market.”
About Connora Technologies, Inc.
Based in Hayward, CA. USA, Connora Technologies is a next-generation chemical company with expertise in molecular design of degradable performance thermoset materials. Their revolutionary Recyclamine® polymer technology forms the basis for creating a new market around degradable and reusable thermoset plastics. Recylamine® polyamines balance performance, cost, manufacturability, and degradability for a new class of diverse performance polymers with reusability in mind. Connora offers molecular design expertise to the composites industry and is the global supplier for Recyclamine® degradable polyamines used in thermoset composite and coating formulations. Connora’s Recylamine® was recognized with an Innovation Award in November 2012 by the industry leading JEC Group, at the JEC Americas Innovation Awards in Boston, MA.
For more information, visit http://www.connoratech.com.
Email: info(at)connoratech(dot)com
Phone: +1 (415) 315-9524
About Adesso Advanced Materials
Headquatered in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, Adesso Advanced Materials Wuxi Co. Ltd. invented the next-generation of recyclable epoxy technology. While the company continues the innovative research on its own class of Cleavamine® curing agents development, the company has significantly broadened the activities including epoxy formulations and application engineering services to the composites industry. Their re-workable epoxy resin system, Recycloset®, can be used for manufacturing the next generation of sustainable fiber reinforced epoxy composites. Additionally, Adesso is developing downstream technologies and partnerships around the recycling of composite waste. In 2013, the company has set up Adesso Advanced Materials (UK) Co. Ltd. in Cambridge, UK and a New York (US) business development office to serve the key US and European market.
Complimentary to its degradable resin technology development, Adesso has built up a high performance resin formulation business unit in 2013 to provide high performance formulated resin to China’s sporting goods and marine market. The company built its first resin formulation manufacturing plant in China with annual 1500 metric tons capacity and achieved its first 6 million RMB sales in the second half of 2013.
Adesso’s Cleavamine® technology was recognized with an Innovation Award in June 2012 by the industry leading JEC Group, at the JEC Asia Innovation Awards in Singapore.
For more information, visit http://adessomaterials.com
Email: bliang(at)adessomaterials(dot)com
Phone: +86 (510) 8538-2409 (China) +1 (609) 297-8486 (USA)
Rey Banatao, Connora Technologies, Inc., http://www.connoratech.com/, +1 (510) 470 6153, [email protected]
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