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Sept. 16, 2002 — Hyperion Catalysis International is not like most other nanotechnology companies.
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First, it’s old, at least by nano standards. The Boston-area company celebrated its 20th anniversary this summer.
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Second, it downplays its nano heritage, or at least does not participate in the hype. Hyperion has been making what it calls Fibrils, a form of multiwall carbon nanotubes, since the 1980s — years before the scientific community acknowledged the existence of carbon nanotubes. Staff members are more likely to attend a conference on plastics than any of the numerous nanotech gatherings that proliferated recently.
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“My joke is we are a 20-year-old startup and for 10 years no one heard of us because we were learning how to make these (nanotubes),” Patrick Collins, Hyperion’s marketing director, said Friday at the Automotive Composites Conference in Troy, Mich. The company developed proprietary processes for blending nanotubes into resins and now offers masterbatches for conductive plastics and other compounds.
While it bills itself as “the leader in nanotube technology,” it remains one of the quieter voices in the clamor that has been building since the launch of the National Nanotechnology Initiative in 2001. Nonetheless, its executives recognize the benefits of the buzz. “We like the fact that people are excited,” said Dan McGahn, general manager of business operations. “It helps Hyperion.”
Third, it has industrial customers who are incorporating its product into car and truck components such as mirror casings and fuel lines, as well as electronics manufacturers who use compounds spiked with Fibrils for production tools. For those applications, the company sees itself in competition with other conductive plastics manufacturers and not the handful of carbon nanotube producers that have cropped up worldwide in the past two years, said Bob Hoch, director of technology.
“They’re in the resin modification business,” agreed Sam Brauer, a research analyst with Business Communications Co. Inc. and author of a 2000 report on the nanotube industry that is scheduled to be updated this year. “They toned down the nanotube (aspect) and I don’t blame them. Nanotubes aren’t the selling point in the markets they’re looking at.”
Hyperion supplies nanotube-spiked resins to companies that make plastic components for the auto industry. The nanotubes offer some benefits over conventional plastics. They are strong but lightweight, which allows manufacturers to make parts such as door panels that are as sturdy as steel, but lighter. Weight savings improve a vehicle’s fuel economy.
Equally as important, Fibrils conduct electricity. Plastic car parts made with nanotube mixes can be electrostatically painted, a much more efficient and environmentally benign approach. GE Plastics used Hyperion’s Fibrils to make mirror casings for Ford vehicles. Hyperion also sells a nylon compound to Degussa AG and EMS that is used in fuel lines, where it is critical to dissipate static charges that could spark an explosion.
Hyperion is one of the few nanotech pioneers with an industry-based, and not lab-based, pedigree. Industrial research chemist Howard Tennent developed a process for catalytically growing nanotubes using hydrocarbon feedstocks in 1982. Since then, the company has filed more than 100 patents — at least 10 in the past two years.
Its earliest patents are due to expire, but McGahn said the company had prepared for that by filing patents that build off its core technology. “We’ve known this would happen,” he said. “We’re still protected for 10 to 15 years.”
Hyperion must work closely with customers to convince them that Fibrils’ benefits outweigh their cost, and ensure its technology works seamlessly within existing manufacturing processes. “Hyperion has the fortunate and unfortunate role of developing the technology,” McGahn said.
“That they’ve managed to keep going means they’re getting some sales,” Brauer said. But the margins are slim in the resin industry. “It’s a tough niche they’re in.”
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Company file: Hyperion Catalysis
(last updated Sept. 16, 2002)
Company
Hyperion Catalysis International Inc.
Headquarters
38 Smith Place
Cambridge, Mass. 02138
History
Founded in 1982 in order to commercialize carbon fibers. Howard Tennent, now a company consultant, originally discovered the process for growing the fibers.
Industry
Advanced materials
Small tech-related products and services
Hyperion’s key product is the Fibril, a catalytically grown multiwall carbon nanotube. Hyperion develops masterbatches of polymers and compounds containing the carbon nanotubes. These nanotubes, which greatly aid in electrostatic charge dissipation, are already used for the development of plastic compounds in the automotive industry (panels, casings, fuel lines) and electronics (electronic media storage, manufacturing tools).
Management
Investment history
Hyperion was created using funding from an undisclosed individual.
Barriers to market
There is a natural reluctance within the materials industry to incorporate what are perceived as new substances. Additionally, the successful dispersion of the carbon nanotubes within a particular material is a challenging process.
Competitors
Goals
Hyperion continues to look for existing applications for its nanotube products.
What keeps them up at night
“We’re a big fish in a new pond. If the economy changes, anything is possible,” said Dan McGahn, general manager of business operations.
Contact
Selected relevant patents
Carbon nanotubes in fuels
Method of making functionalized nanotubes
Recent news
Companies in hot pursuit of secret to mass-producing supermolecule
— Research by Gretchen McNeely