Dear Rolling,
Having attended two Inno.CNT functions in the past, and also generally being very much up to speed regarding current "CNT" related events here in Germany, I am extremely well aware of Bayer's history and involvement. Indeed it was Bayer that helped initiate the Inno.CNT alliance way back in 2008 in Leverkusen (I have worked in Germany since 1991). The following presentation, that was made in Israel in 2010 (I did not attend, but I later received a copy), will give you a good overview of Bayer, where Bayer Material Science fits in the Bayer picture, the CNT market, the Baytubes project and also Inno.CNT:
http://www.lidorr.com/_uploads/dbsattachedfiles/baytubesseminarmarketingpresentation2010.pdfThe reason that Bayer decided in May 2013 to terminate the Baytubes plant and project was entirely a board decision. Having sunk over a billion Euros into this project, the board of Bayer felt that the demand in the market, at that time, did not warrant further investment. This decision was also made due to the fact that Bayer wanted to stick to their core products i.e. the decision was part of a "back to the roots" strategic realignment. Please see the following link for one of the many press releases about this major decision:
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/carbon-nanotubes-not-commercially-viable-for-bayer/6154.articleI am convinced that Bayer pulled the plug way too early on their Baytubes project (this was confirmed to me by two former members of the Baytubes project team, one who I met in December 2016 and the other on July 18th last year). Having said this, Baytubes, at the time, had some concerns about CNT health and safety issues, as well as personally acknowledged difficulties with both shelf life and dispersion (all of which I am pleased to say Eden resolved in 2014/2015) which meant that considerable time and money would still have been needed to be spent to resolve these crucial issues. Unfortunately, the board of Bayer was not prepared to commit any further funds to the Baytubes project, calling it, and I quote: "a fass ohne boden" (a bottomless pit).
I would like to point out, that in contrast to Bayer with Baytubes, Eden, with EdenCrete (and very soon EdenPlast) are now finally starting to reap the rewards of an insightful as well as an undying committment to an intensive, time consuming and highly professional CNT R&D program. This time and capital investment will form the basis for a raft of future CNT based products, in a wide range of industry sectors. Not only this, Eden has done all this at a fraction of the cost of what Bayer with Baytubes outlaid. A fact that will not go unnoticed, as word of the success of EdenCrete etc. spreads.
Finally, FutureCarbon has developed some products, however, progress has been slow due to financial restrictions etc.. Here is a link to their home page:
https://www.future-carbon.de/Wishing you a pleasant evening,
MB
(20min delay)
