ISRAEL 
HIGH-TECH & INVESTMENT REPORT

from the September 2001 issue


"Carbon Membranes"

"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.



Reprinted from the Israel High-Tech & Investment Report September 2001

Click HERE to request further information.
Click HERE to go BACK.