Thomas Swan + Co.
Ltd. has announced that the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has granted an approval for manufacture and sale of the company's high-purity
Elicarb® SW single-walled carbon nanotube product following a comprehensive
review with the specialist manufacturer.
This is the first consent order for a PMN (Pre-Manufacturing Notice) from the
EPA for single-walled carbon nanotubes and when combined with last month's
consent order for the company's multi-wall product means that Thomas Swan
is the only organization currently licensed to sell commercial quantities of
carbon nanotubes in the USA.
Thomas Swan has worked closely with the US regulators to set these standards
to ensure carbon nanotubes can be safely used in industry as manufacturers seek
to scale-up novel processes and applications using these innovative materials.
Swan's Elicarb® SW product is at the center of a number of commercial
pilot projects in many new applications including ultra-strength composites
and high performance electronics. Swan Chemical Inc. of Lyndhurst, New Jersey,
is the American subsidiary of UK-based Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. and the company's
US president Chuck Van Fleet commented: ‘The support of the EPA in the
control of nanomaterial manufacturing gives industry a secure basis on which
to develop this important, emerging technology. The consent order ensures Elicarb®
products can be used in a consistent, responsible way to develop commercial
processes that are robust and reliable.'
Swan has been working with industry and governmental agencies and contractors
on nanomaterial development projects in advanced composites including thermally
and electrically conducting plastics, high-strength materials and several advanced
electronic applications including memory systems and flat-screen display technologies.
The Swan data has also been committed to the Nanomaterials Stewardship Program,
an EPA initiative to collect and record information about nanomaterial use in
industry.
Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. – the UK based parent company of Swan Chemical
Inc. - is a European leader in standard-setting in the chemical and related
industries. The company was among the first to achieve the International Standards
Organisation (ISO) 14001, 9001 accreditation for Environmental Management and
was a pioneer of the Chemical Industries Association Responsible Care program.