US gas prices surge as refineries close following Hurricane Harvey

At $2.45, the current US gas price average is the highest recorded price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline so far, this year, due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey, according to a report by The American Automobile Association (AAA).

The near-term combinations of numerous refinery and pipeline shut downs, tightened access to supply levels in the Gulf and anticipated high gasoline demand surrounding Labor Day weekend, means motorists may not have seen the full impact of Harvey at the pump.

“Consumers will see a short-term spike in the coming weeks with gas prices likely topping $2.50/gal, but quickly dropping by mid to late September,” said Jeanette Casselano, AAA spokesperson. “AAA does not expect refineries to be offline for months, as early reports indicate minimal to no significant damage to Corpus Christi and Houston refineries.”

The coming days, with Corpus Christi refineries working to come back online and Houston/Galveston beginning to dry out, will offer more insight into how long total recovery and restoration efforts may take.

Harvey has set a record for the greatest amount of single-storm rainfall for the continental US. The storm continues to threaten heavy rain to parts of Louisiana and eastern Texas (3 to 6 inches) and even move into western Kentucky (10 inches). In the Houston/Galveston area, flooding, not rain, is now the concern, AAA said.

“The storm has had a devastating effect on the lives of so many,” said Marshall Doney, President and CEO, AAA. “Our regional AAA are working around the clock in Texas and in other affected areas to help our members in need, and our thoughts are with all of those impacted by this storm.”

Gulf coast refinery and pipeline status

The Department of Energy (DOE) is reporting that 10 Gulf Coast refineries remain shut down. Six refineries have begun the process of assessing damage and restarting, which may take several days. Two refineries in the Gulf Coast region are operating at reduced rates.

Refineries in Lake Charles could shut or reduce rates as Harvey moves east. Additionally, DOE released 500,000 barrels of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve – the nation’s reserve of crude oil. The oil will be delivered via pipeline to the Phillips 66 refinery in Westlake. According to DOE, it will continue to review incoming requests for oil in the reserve, meaning that it could release more if deemed necessary.

In addition to refinery shut downs, several major pipelines continue to operate at reduced rates, have shut down or plan to shut down due to lack of supply. The Colonial Pipeline announced that it expects to temporarily suspend its gasoline, diesel and jet fuel pipelines. With its supplying refineries closed in the area, the pipeline operator cited reduced output as the reason for suspending its transportation operations. The Pipeline originates in Houston and supplies the East Coast.

Read more: US gas prices surge as refineries close following Hurricane Harvey

Insect eyes inspires the design of new solar cell

Packing tiny solar cells together, like micro-lenses in the compound eye of an insect, could pave the way to a new generation of advanced photovoltaics, said Stanford University scientists.

In a new study, the Stanford team used the insect-inspired design to protect a fragile photovoltaic material called perovskite from deteriorating when exposed to heat, moisture or mechanical stress.

The results are published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science (E&ES).

“Perovskites are promising, low-cost materials that convert sunlight to electricity as efficiently as conventional solar cells made of silicon,” said Reinhold Dauskardt, a professor of materials science and engineering and senior author of the study. “The problem is that perovskites are extremely unstable and mechanically fragile. They would barely survive the manufacturing process, let alone be durable long term in the environment.”

Most solar devices, like rooftop panels, use a flat, or planar, design. But that approach doesn’t work well with perovskite solar cells.

“Perovskites are the most fragile materials ever tested in the history of our lab,” said graduate student Nicholas Rolston, a co-lead author of the E&ES study. “This fragility is related to the brittle, salt-like crystal structure of perovskite, which has mechanical properties similar to table salt.”

Eye of the fly

To address the durability challenge, the Stanford team turned to nature.

“We were inspired by the compound eye of the fly, which consists of hundreds of tiny segmented eyes,” Dauskardt explained. “It has a beautiful honeycomb shape with built-in redundancy: If you lose one segment, hundreds of others will operate. Each segment is very fragile, but it’s shielded by a scaffold wall around it.”

Using the compound eye as a model, the researchers created a compound solar cell consisting of a vast honeycomb of perovskite microcells, each encapsulated in a hexagon-shaped scaffold just 0.02 inches (500 microns) wide.

“The scaffold is made of an inexpensive epoxy resin widely used in the microelectronics industry,” Rolston said. “It’s resilient to mechanical stresses and thus far more resistant to fracture.”

Tests conducted during the study revealed that the scaffolding had little effect on how efficiently perovskite converted light into electricity.

“We got nearly the same power-conversion efficiencies out of each little perovskite cell that we would get from a planar solar cell,” Dauskardt said. “So we achieved a huge increase in fracture resistance with no penalty for efficiency.”

Read more: Insect eyes inspires the design of new solar cell

Total sells remaining 15 pc stake in Gina Krog field to KUFPEC

Total SA has signed an agreement to sell its remaining 15 percent interest in the Gina Krog field in Norway to Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC).

This agreement builds on the 2016 transaction between Total and KUFPEC concerning Norwegian North Sea assets, which included a 15 percent interest in Gina Krog. The overall consideration for both deals will total $617 million. 

Upon completion of the sale, Total will no longer have an interest in the Gina Krog field, while KUFPEC will have a 30 percent stake alongside Statoil (58.7 percent, operator), PGNiG Upstream International (8 percent) and Aker BP (3.3 percent). The Gina Krog oil and gas field started production in June 2017.

Read more: Total sells remaining 15 pc stake in Gina Krog field to KUFPEC

AkzoNobel confirms acquisition of Disa Technology

AkzoNobel NV has finalized the acquisition of French manufacturer Disa Technology (Disatech). The acquisition strengthens AkzoNobel's global leadership position in supplying innovative industrial coatings and aerospace and automotive coatings.

Headquartered in Limoges, Disatech is the leader in aerospace technical marking systems. The company specializes in the manufacture of self-adhesive vinyl, polyester and polycarbonate films used on aircraft, vehicles, agricultural machinery and other equipment.

The acquisition of Disatech will bring new technologies and services that complement AkzoNobel's existing portfolio of coatings and films for the aerospace and transport sectors.

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Non-stick coating runs afoul of the spores

Researchers at the University of Wollongong (UOW) led ARC Research Hub for Australian Steel Manufacturing have been investigating self-cleaning, anti-microbial organic coatings for painted sheet steel to prevent the build-up of mould, algae and other bacteria on coated steel products, particularly in humid environments.

Left unchecked, a build-up of troublesome organisms wreaks havoc on steel products, requiring more regular and costly cleaning and maintenance.

In the marine industry, for example, algal growth can stick to boat and ship hulls, resulting in decreased speed and manoeuvrability as well as increasing fuel consumption. In hospitals, bacterial contamination of surfaces such as countertops, surgical tools, and medical devices contributes to the spread of potentially deadly hospital-acquired infections.

Current solutions have been based on coatings that incorporate biocides, which release antimicrobial agents to kill target microorganisms. Yet, the effectiveness of biocides is dulled over time and eventually rendered ineffective. Many biocides are made with toxic chemical that can have detrimental environmental effects and are often limited in application by health, safety and environmental regulations.

Researchers at the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI), in collaboration with Steel Hub partner BlueScope, set about investigating a more effective and environmentally friendly coating solution.

Instead of directly targeting microorganisms, the researchers looked at developing a coating that prevented them attaching to a surface in the first place. They combined silica nanoparticles with chemical compounds called zwitterions, which are naturally hydrophilic, or able to bond to water.

Silica nanoparticles have already been added to paints for their abrasion resistance and flame-retardant properties, as well as being low cost and easily produced in large quantity. The zwitterions are able to bond to the nanoparticles, which in turn, are more readily attached to a surface to form a water layer or coating.

Read more: Non-stick coating runs afoul of the spores

Covestro to develop bio-based resin for timber construction materials

Covestro AG working with four partners, is aiming to develop bio-based reinforcing layers for solid wood construction materials to replace the petrochemical products used to date.

The partners are Sortimo International GmbH, the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF), the Institut fur Kunststofftechnik (Institute for Plastics Engineering, IKT) at the University of Stuttgart and the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT).

The polyurethane system, which is reinforced with cellulose fibres, is to be more than 90 percent bio-based, contain zero additives and exhibit excellent flame retardance and weathering resistance. The project is being supported by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the project sponsor, Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. (Agency for Renewable Resources, FNR). 

State-of-the-art solid timber construction techniques are increasingly coming to dominate our urban spaces. The main materials used to manufacture construction elements are cross-laminated timber and glued-laminated timber. Both materials consist of alternate layers of wood and thinly spread polyurethane resin. If aramid, glass or carbon fibres are embedded into the layers of resin, they create reinforcing segments that further enhance the stability of the construction elements.

Bio-based alternatives

Over the course of the recently launched project, the researchers want to find bio-based alternatives to the fossil-based resins and fibres that have been used to date. They are pursuing a combination of biogenous, aliphatic polyisocyanates and polyols based on vegetable oils. The resultant polyurethanes should exhibit low flammability and good weathering resistance so that no special additives are needed to enhance either property. 

When it comes to reinforcement, the scientists favour cellulose fibres such as those extracted from regenerated cellulose. 

“At the end of this process, we will have the first ever reinforcing materials for use in timber construction that are made up of at least 90 percent renewable raw materials,” said Dr Paul Heinz from Covestro, who is coordinating the research project. This, he claims, will make state-of-the-art timber construction with cross-laminated and glued-laminated timber even more sustainable. 

Read more: Covestro to develop bio-based resin for timber construction materials

DSM introduces novel material solution for hydrogen storage tanks

Royal DSM has introduced a material solution for high-pressure composite tanks for hydrogen storage in its continuing mission to help reduce CO2 emissions.

Hydrogen tanks are the next step in fuel storage, as such storage is a key enabling technology for advancing hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in applications that include stationary power, portable power and transportation.

Hydrogen has the highest energy per mass of any fuel. One kg of hydrogen is equivalent to 33.3 kWh, which means it delivers three times more energy than conventional fuel. But hydrogen’s low ambient temperature density results in a low energy per unit volume.

This requires the development of advanced storage methods that have the potential for higher energy density.

DSM is working to apply its materials expertise to make safe, effective and very lightweight hydrogen tanks.

The two-part tank design features a proven, blow moulded liner made of Akulon Fuel Lock, a polyamide 6-based engineering plastic with a very high barrier to hydrocarbons. The tank can then potentially be further reinforced by wrapping it in unidirectional (UD) continuous fibre-reinforced thermoplastic tapes made of EcoPaXX polyamide 410. This combination of commercially available materials has already proven to be very effective in CNG tanks, and DSM is now actively testing the concept in hydrogen tanks.

Read more: DSM introduces novel material solution for hydrogen storage tanks