Description of the organisation
Research and Development of Carbon Nanotubes S.A. (Nanothinx - NTX) is a high-tech SME company established in November 2005, which specialises in the development and large-scale production of high-purity and low-cost carbon nanotubes (CNTs), as well as on some of their applications. The company has spun-off from the Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature Chemical Processes (FORTH/ICE-HT).
Nanothinx boasts the ability to produce the highest "as produced" nanotube purity (97% for multi wall nanotubes - MWNT, and most recently 98,5%) at production cost which is significantly lower than that of the competition. This is achieved by exploiting the proprietary production method and catalysts, specially developed by the research team of the company.
More specifically, the product range of the company is divided into 2 categories:
- High purity carbon nanotubes: the company, after having developed a basic array of nanotube products, produces nanotubes on demand, based on the characteristics requested by the clients.
- Nanotube application realisation: the most significant product offering of the company are the consulting services for the incorporation of nanotubes in materials in order to exploit their special characteristics. Nanothinx has contacted research for several clients having developed special proprietary methods. During its 3 years of operation, Nanothinx has initiated collaborations with European organisations aiming at the development of CNT-based products.
Contribution to the project
NTX has long-time experience in the synthesis and large-scale manufacturing of tailored CNTs with high purities, as well as functionalisation and characterisation of these nanotubes. NTX will therefore provide invaluable contribution to the generation of CNT-based polymer membranes to be used for the newly developed MBR technology in BioNexGen by providing "ad-hoc" CNTs with very specific characteristics that are needed to meet the requirements of the new BioNexGen membrane technology.
NTX will be involved in the vertical alignment of CNTs (functionalised or not) to the polymer membrane (modified or not) by filtering and the quantitative estimation of the molecular orientation of CNTs or/and the polymer matrix.
