Oct 5 2010
Abakan Inc., (OTCQB:ABKI) (“Abakan”) is pleased to announce that MesoCoat, Inc., one of its portfolio companies, has won multiple American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) and Phase II SBIR awards from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop and demonstrate its breakthrough CermaClad™ fusion claddings and PComP nanocomposite cermet coatings for energy applications.
The company’s metallurgically-bonded and nanocomposite cermet coating technologies enable lower capital cost, improved life, efficiency, reliability, and reduced carbon footprint to be achieved in advanced energy generation systems.
Robert Miller CEO, Abakan Inc. stated, “We are proud of the MesoCoat team who were chosen over the hundreds of outstanding technology companies that applied for DOE investment. To win three out of three contracts, that were recently applied for, in the DOE’s competitive selection process is unprecedented and verifies MesoCoat’s technical leadership position.” The two ARRA $1 million contracts and one Phase II SBIR $1 million contracts are as follows:
CermaClad Awards:
Award One; the first ARRA contract is for the next stage of development and testing of CermaClad™ intermetallic composite coatings providing increased temperature, corrosion and oxidation resistance in high temperature and pressure environments compared to current weld overlay and thermal spray materials.
- These technologies are aimed at improving component life, reducing capital cost, increasing the efficiency and reducing carbon footprint and emissions from next generation boilers, heat exchangers, and combustion equipment including ultrasupercritical clean coal systems.
- The commercialization of these technologies could represent a new market for MesoCoat’s solutions of over $200 million per annum for protective coatings and component repair or refurbishment.
Award Two; the Phase II SBIR contract is to continue development of CermaClad™ nanocomposite coatings for the energy sector, combining the company’s expertise in nanocomposite metals and ceramic materials, along with its large area fusion cladding process technology.
- Advanced energy applications including nuclear, clean coal, wind, and ultra-deepwater drilling all of which are dependant on advances in materials technology to reduce capital costs and improve operational reliability.
PComP Award
The second ARRA contract “Coatings for Life Extension of Zinc Pot Rolls” in the hot-dip galvanized steel strip industry, funds the development of PComP™ self-lubricating nanocomposite coating materials for metal forming and processing equipment.
- Builds on the company’s PComP™ nanocomposite cermet thermal spray coating product line by further developing and verifying wear resistant, self-lubricating nanocomposites that are stable in molten metal environments.
- One industry that has this specific problem is the galvanizing, metal forming, and die-casting industry. Energy losses, maintenance, and downtime associated with wear and corrosion within this industry alone are estimated to exceed $500 million in the U.S. annually.
- The validation of a wear resistant low friction coating that can operate at temperatures in the 350-800 C range offers revolutionary capabilities for improved energy efficiency in a wide range of applications above and beyond the targeted galvanizing and aluminum die-casting markets.
Andrew Sherman CEO, MesoCoat Inc. stated that, “In the current competitive environment, reducing capital costs and equipment integrity risks for our energy infrastructure customer’s is driving our growth. With a clad metal products market estimated at nearly $3 Billion today, and expected to experience double digit growth rates, this is an exciting time for Mesocoat It’s apparent our future competitors are preparing for this market growth by announcing over $1 Billion in new plant expansion in the last two years, and the capital and operational efficiency and material performance advances we are bringing to market should drive pricing and performance into the next decade. We are very grateful that the DOE has awarded us these contracts which will allow us to continue pushing the envelope on the expansion of these innovative technology platforms.”
MesoCoat Inc. has partnered with leading research institutions, end-users, government, and value chain partners to bring its nanotechnology innovations out of the laboratory and into the marketplace, and has aggressive expansion plans over the next two years. To speed the transition to market, and augment the companies core competencies in materials science and coating application technology, the company has cooperative agreements, partnerships, and technology licenses with the Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology, NASA Glenn Research Center, The University of Akron, CASE Western Reserve University, Oak Ridge National laboratory, The Edison Materials Technology Center, the US Department of Defense, and others.