High-heat resistant Ryton® PPS replaces metal to enable weight and cost savings, combined with lower carbon footprint and better aesthetic facility integration
Solvay and Inaventa Solar, an innovator in solar thermal collector technology, joined forces in the development of the partner’s new BI70 solar collector. The product leverages Solvay’s Ryton® PPS1 to replace metal, which provides significant benefits from greater design flexibility and automated manufacturing to simplified handling, better aesthetic facility integration and a lower carbon footprint.
“The main reason for replacing metals with polymers in our business is linked to the goal of making solar collectors with a lower carbon footprint,” explains John Rekstad, CEO of Inaventa Solar. “The smooth and efficient collaboration with Solvay has resulted in a material solution that meets all key design and manufacturing requirements of our new solar collector and has accelerated the time-to-market of this sustainable innovation.”
The combination of long-term heat resistance up to 160°C, excellent hydrolytic resistance and processability makes this new impact modified Ryton®PPS compound the preferred solution for the solar collector’s thermal absorber sheet, according to Els De Meersman, Solvay Customer Technical Development Engineer. Compared to metals, it facilitates a more flexible and efficient, automated manufacturing process for lightweight solar panels that save energy even before they are installed, by simplifying transport as well as handling on the construction site. The polymer also helps architects achieve a more seamless and aesthetic integration of the solar collectors into the roofs and façades of buildings, where they can replace other cladding components as active energy providers.
“Our partnership with Inaventa Solar is a great example of how we are supporting a more sustainable economy by enabling a lower carbon footprint along the value chain through material solutions that enable weight reduction and more efficient large-volume production,” says Joachim Vercauteren, Key Account Manager for Solvay’s Materials segment. “The result of this strong and focused collaboration is a custom-tailored extrusion blend of Ryton® PPS combining high-performance in-use characteristics with cost-effective processability for large structured solar panels.”
Following initial installations at farms, schools, commercial and residential buildings in Norway and other Nordic countries, the cost-efficient and environmentally friendly new Inaventa Solar collector BI70 will be available worldwide. Solvay will showcase the contribution of its Ryton® PPS polymer to the design, manufacturability and sustainability of this solar energy application at the company’s Booth C61 in Hall 6 during K 2022 from October 19 to 26 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Ryton® is a registered trademark of Solvay.
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Solvay has partnered with Inaventa Solar to replace metal in solar collector designs with structural components extruded in Ryton® PPS, providing greater design flexibility and manufacturing cost-efficiency while enabling a lower carbon footprint and more aesthetic facility integration. (Photos: Inaventa Solar)
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Ron Sausa
Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 21,000 employees in 63 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet roadmap crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering a better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of €10.1 billion in 2021. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels and Paris (SOLB). Learn more at www.solvay.com.
Inaventa Solar is a Norwegian solar energy company that aims to industrialize and commercialize innovative solar collector technology based on high-performing polymer materials. The company was founded in 2019 as a subsidiary of “3 Norske”, a group of several flagship Norwegian industrial enterprises. A key part of the business is the establishment of a pioneering production facility, the first of its kind globally. Annual production capacity stands at 600,000 square meters of solar collectors, which places the factory among the largest in Europe. Visit inaventasolar.com for more information.
