Raymor Begins Volume Nanotube Production

Raymor Industries, a component of the Edwards’ Real Nanotech Index (ERNI), announced that it has begun production of single-walled nanotubes from its high capacity production unit. The company says it can now produce 10 kilograms per day. Raymor makes its nanotubes through a thermal plasma technology and claims to be a low cost producer. “To our knowledge, this is the only process which is capable of reaching very high productioin throughputs of high quality C-SWNT on a continuous basis,” says Frederic Larouche, who is the assistant director of Raymor’s Nanotechnology division.

They are now trying to nail down deals in the defense and aerospace sectors for their products. Airplane makers are especially interested in lightweight conductive composite materials. Once it has orders in hand, Raymor will increase capacity. The market for carbon nanotubes is expected to exceed $200 million by 2009.

ERNI Slides

The Edwards Real Nanotech Index slid further last week, along with the market. It is now almost 5% below its initiation point in February. Seven stocks were down slightly, six stocks were up, six were up and one was unchanged. There was not much news from these companies to drive prices.

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ERNI Slips into the Red

Last week, the Edwards Real Nanotech Index (ERNI) slipped into the red since its inception in February, ending Friday at about 2% below its starting point. The decline wasn’t universal among the components: Oxonica, Raymor, and JMAR managed to buck the trend.

JMAR had some good news. The company has been selected by the U.S. Army to receive an SBIR II Grant to develop a laser-based system to detect hazardous material at a distance; in particular, improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The double-pulsed laser system should be capable of real-time spectrophotomic analysis in the field. In a previous Phase I grant, JMAR was able to provide proof-of-content. The aim of follow-on grant, worth $750,000, is to build two working prototypes.

ERNI component Arrowhead Research announced that its NanoPolaris unit had acquired the assets of Unidym, which develops carbon nanotube electronics. Along with the company, they acquired Unidym’s founder, UCLA professor Charles Gruener, who will become Chief Technical Officer of NanoPolaris. The first product envisioned is a transparent, conductive nanotube network that could enable touch screen displays, solar cells, and light-emitting diodes.

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ERNI Slides with Market

The NASDAQ composite is going for its eight straight decline in a row today. Not surprisingly, the Edwards Real Nanotech Index (ERNI) is sliding with it. As of last Friday, ERNI was still above its initiation level (100) established on February 17th of this year. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ and Dow Jones have both wiped out all of their gains for the year. So neutral ain’t all that bad. Still, what can we expect going forward? Nothing very good is my prediction. If you’ve only been watching the U.S., you might think that the market's free-fall is some sort of nasty correction we’re having in an otherwise bull market. An over-reaction to a Bernanke quote, maybe. But if you have been looking overseas, you will realize that the U.S. is now caught up in a liquidity crisis that began in Asia and has now seized the whole world. I will try to post something more definitive on this in the near future. But things don't look good right now for small techy stocks, like the ones represented by ERNI.


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More Reviews

More kind words about my book, The Nanotech Pioneers: Where are they taking us:

“The Nanotech Pioneers is refreshingly free of the hype and press-release punditry that plagues too much writing about the potential applications of nanotechnology. Instead, Edwards displays both a real understanding of the science that underlies the hype and an appreciation of the all-important difference between what is possible in principle and what makes economic sense. …I can recommend this book as a well-written and sane introduction to this confusing and contested field.”—Richard Jones, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, UK. Author of Softmachines: Nanotechnology and Life. The review appears in the June 2006 edition of Physics World.

“In a very easy going journalistic style, the author takes the reader on a journey through the subject touching on current technology, which is already having an impact on our lives, to future technology which is perhaps so distance its use or benefit is difficult to imagine. …In summary, if you have a passing interest in nanotechnology and fancy a light read as well as a change from scaremongering and ill-informed nanotechnology-related novels, I would fully recommend this book.”—Karl Coleman, Chemistry World, May, 2006 (subscription required).

P.S. In the interests of full disclosure, my wife, Sally, would beg to differ about the “light read” comment above, but she did read the whole thing.

Magic Nano Has Neither Magic nor Nano

Once released into the environment, nanoparticles cannot be reclaimed. They will blow around in the atmosphere, dissolve in the oceans and rivers, enter the soil and possibly enter the food-chain. On the other hand, natural and not-so-natural nanoparticles already exist in the environment that do no particular harm. Still, if there is any event that is likely to derail the nanotech revolution before it gets rolling, it is the discovery of a health hazard in a nanotech product. Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance firms has already made a big point out of the unknown potential liability problems associated with nanoparticles.

For a few weeks, it looked like the worse case scenario was unfolding in Europe as a product called Magic Nano was pulled from the shelves.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Magic Nano was billed as a miraculous solution for household drudgery, able to repel dirt and moisture from bathroom surfaces through the wonders of nanotechnology.

Instead, the spray-on ceramic sealant quickly has become an emblem of the growing global fears over incorporating artificial particles tens of thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair into such everyday products as golf balls, sunscreen and clothing.

Three days after Magic Nano went on sale in Europe in March, it was pulled from store shelves because at least 110 customers reported symptoms including racking coughs, chest pain and difficulty breathing.

All the neo-Luddites were just getting ready to raid Max Plank University, breaking up labs, destroying expensive atomic force microscopes with pick-axes, and generally acting rude, when German regulatory authorities saved the day. Whatever was making people sick can’t be blamed on nanoparticles because Magic Nano contains none. Thank you, Lord. Magic Nano is reputed to lay down a nanoscale thin-film of silicon dioxide, but tests failed to verify that it actually does so. Most likely, this is a case of misleading advertising.

It is still too early to tell whether Magic Nano has damaged nanotech’s “brand.” How nice it would be if there would always be some sort of authority to sort out what is and isn’t nano. But that isn’t going to happen. PR-savvy trade organizations like the NanoBusiness Alliance should take it upon themselves to promote safe nanotechnology, perhaps even coming up with some standards to go by. And they should also come down hard on people who promote bogus nanotech. As Vicki Colvin, executive director of the Center for Biological and Environmental Technology put it in testimony before Congress, “The perception that nanotechnology will cause environmental devastation or human disease could itself turn the dream of a trillion dollar industry into a nightmare of public backlash.”

P.S. My thanks to old river-running buddy David Wagner for pointing me to the LA Times link. David once memorably posed the still unanswered question: "In a post-apocalyptic world, would rather have a prize-winning scientist around or a good mechanic?"

ERNI Hangs in There

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The Edwards Real Nanotech (ERNI) closed little changed last week, nor were there big moves in any of the components. For that matter, there was not much in the way of news to generate any movement. Altogether a pretty dull week.

Today, however, JMAR Technologies announced an order for its BioSentry product from, of all things, Princess Cruise Lines. Cruise ships have had an enormous problem with gastrointestinal viruses doing a number on their passengers. Vomiting and diarrhea—not a great way to spend a vacation. One assumes that’s what explains the current order. In any case, JMAR is currently up 28%, bucking a big down day in the markets.

Alnylam [ALNY—NASDAQ], though not an ERNI component, has been discussed previously on this blog as a leading RNAi company. Today announced that the “Tuschl II” patent had been issued, to which they are the exclusive licensee. The patent broadly covers means for making siRNAs to be used therapeutically on any disease target. As described by the company, the patent seems to be very general, covering all double-stranded RNAs 19-25 nucleotides in length and having one or more 3’ overhangs, i.e. having the characteristics needed to function as an siRNA. Although one can imagine ways to design around this patent, it is enough to keep the company’s stock price in positive territory. Meanwhile, the Dow is down 100. as this is written.