Accelerating the Market Toward Lower Emissions
Huntsman is reducing automotive emissions by applying Advanced Materials products to the production of electric vehicles.
For many years, Huntsman Advanced Materials’ ARALDITE® products have been widely used in the transportation industry to manufacture airplanes and produce lighter and more fuel-efficient automobiles.
Today, Huntsman is creating products to insulate electric motors and build composite battery boxes that make electric vehicles lighter and safer—two key factors in growing this market and reducing vehicle emissions.
ARALDITE® resins insulate motors to improve their thermal and electrical performance, making electric vehicles more reliable and efficient. Huntsman is currently working with European, American and Chinese automotive companies and their suppliers to further develop and qualify these innovative technologies.
Additionally, ARALDITE® composite resin systems are used to build lightweight battery boxes that protect electric batteries from mechanical, thermal and fire damage, enabling widespread adoption and safer use of electric vehicles.
Battery boxes have traditionally been composed of metal. However, as battery pack sizes increase, the protective boxes grow larger and increase the weight of the vehicle. Composite battery boxes made from ARALDITE® resins not only weigh less, they provide strong, fire-resistant protection that reduces the possibility of a fire in the event of a crash.
Another area Huntsman is accelerating the market toward lower emissions is by conducting research and development on the transformation of methane into hydrogen and valuable carbon structural materials.
Huntsman’s technology uses the methane pyrolysis to convert the incoming gas into hydrogen and a valuable form of solid carbon known as MIRALON® carbon products. This carbon material can be used for structural applications in composites, as an electrical conductor and potentially as an anode material for enhanced Li-ion batteries.
In parallel, the hydrogen resulting from the pyrolysis could be sold for fuel applications in the industrial and automotive markets.
The technology is working at laboratory or small-scale production levels, and Huntsman is currently designing a pilot plant to demonstrate the technology at larger scale. If results continue to show promise, the company will focus on commercialization of the technology into flare gas treatment and possibly larger-scale applications with natural gas. In line with Huntsman’s commitment to sustainability and in a genuinely circular manner, this new technology could turn a problem source of emissions into useful materials that could be widely used in applications that improve performance and reduce environmental impact.