"Carbon Membranes" a Negev Nuclear Research Center Commercial Spin Off Set for Major Business Inroads
Until the appearance of the book, "Israel and the Bomb" by Avner Cohen, published by Columbia University Press,
there was a dearth of information regarding Israel's nuclear history and next to no information regarding commercial
spinoffs. Cohen writes, that Israel first crossed the nuclear weapons threshold on the eve of the 1967 Six Day. The
author focuses on the two-decade period until 1970, during which David Ben-Gurion's vision of making Israel a
nuclear-weapons power was realized. The Israel High-Tech & Investment Report, has over the years been able to
identify only a few commercial spinoffs originating from Israel's military or defense sector.
This past May during a visit to the Rotem Industrial Park, adjacent to the Israel's Nuclear Research Center- Negev
(NRCN) IHTIR was introduced to Len Kaplan, Marketing Manager of Carbon Membranes Ltd. a promising startup
whose activities are the direct outcome in the commercial applications of technologies, processes and products
originating from Israel's Nuclear Research Center- Negev (NRCN). Kaplan describes how the company's technology
is used in industry. "The new product is based on the company's patented technology. It has developed an innovative
hollow fiber carbon molecular sieve technology, which offers for a broad range of industries, superior separation
capabilities in a variety of gas applications. The patented production process enables control of pore size in the
carbonized fiber wall, imparting a degree of selectivity far superior to that achievable by alternative methods. This
selectivity, together with the mobility and modular design of the unit, allow for its use in
a series of challenging applications".
Streams of CO2/CH4 are emitted from various sources. Carbon Membrane can separate the gases emitted from
biogas sources (waste landfill sites), thus clearly recovering both valuable gases. Many industrial streams require the
separation of hydrogen from methane also efficiently achieved by the carbon membrane, enabling the use of the
hydrogen for production of environmentally friendly fuels. Product properties: high chemical and temperature stability
(working temperature between -150¡ and +170¡ C) and pressure resistance. Through development of modules with
up to 20.000 fibers, sieve areas of up to 10 m2 can be obtained. Pore size distribution can be adapted along the
hollow fibers.
Another application is the prevention of pollution by fluoride greenhouse gases like SF6 and PFCs. These gases,
which are completely retained by the membranes can be recovered, and save considerable production costs to the gas
users. This green product thus can be useful both for cost reduction and for fighting global warming.
The potential savings to be gained from applying the gas separation technology are immense but require specific
development. Among prominent US companies participating in BIRD Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and
Development Foundation (BIRD) financed projects is Air Liquid, which is the largest gas company in the world that
builds and operates gas separation systems in the petrochemical industry. Air Liquid will be active in a joint project
through its subsidiary MEDAL together with Carbon Membranes Ltd. The project is based on an innovative
technology for separating propane from propylene.
This technology is intended to replace part of the expensive, energy consuming splitters in use today for separating
propylene, a principal raw material used in the petrochemical industry, as well as in the production of the widely used
plastic polypropylene.
The developed product will bring about considerable savings in both investment and production costs of refineries and
polypropylene production facilities.
Carbon Membranes Ltd., a sophisticated technology company, is a subsidiary of Clal Industries, one of the largest
companies in the Israeli industrial sector.
It is engaged in commercializing novel technologies for gas separation based on modules containing carbon molecular
sieve membrane (CMSM). These membranes were invented at the Israel Nuclear Research Center - Negev and are
patented. Years of research have made this technology, which began with a single fibre the size of a human hair, into
a proven method for separating challenging gas mixtures. Several other patents are pending. Carbon Membrane
technology is an emerging technology for gas separation and recovery and will soon enter the market with dedicated
products for various gas separations. The membranes contribute economically as well as environmentally.