Materials News

Fly ash to hit the roof

The new compounds will substitute or partially substitute and combine RockTron's products with other fillers to produce a range of hybrid compounds. The spherical shape of RockTron's solid alumino-silicate glass MinTron products offers advantages in dispersion compared with other irregular shaped fillers. In addition, the hardness of the glass spheres (5-6 on the Mohs scale) gives high scratch resistance.

Test plaques comparing a PP co-polymer containing 15% talc with an identical co-polymer with 15% MinTron replacing the talc show improved scratch resistance and 50% reduction in emissions. The meeting of automotive OEM emissions specifications and the reduction of interior emissions are important in the reduction of interior fogging and odour.

In addition to automotive applications, other non-automotive products are being targeted. Recently, The Green Tile Company has produced a PP tile roof containing 25% MinTron. Following successful protoype testing, production tooling is being manufactured with an expected product launch date of late March 2011.

RockTron says two American companies have also expressed an interest in licensing its technology. RockTron launched RockTron Asia in October 2010 two years ahead of schedule and developed a licensing business model, which allows it and its partners to develop into multiple international markets simultaneously, without compromising existing agreements or future opportunities.

The first industrial plant licensed to use RockTron's technology is at Fiddler's Ferry, Cheshire, UK, which is in full operation and capable of recycling up to 800,000 tonnes/year of fly ash. It has also signed up Malaysian energy provider Tenaga Nasional to use its technology to process fly ash at its coal-fired plants.