Swan Chemical Inc. Announced as North American Distribution Partner for Molecular Rebar® in Oil (MRO) products – Reinforcing Carbon Nanotube Additives for Rubber

Swan Chemical Inc., a subsidiary of Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd., is now the North American Distribution Partner for Molecular Rebar® in Oil (MRO) products from Molecular Rebar Design (MRD), a technology powerhouse devoted to the scale-up and commercialization of functionalized and discrete carbon nanotubes. MRO products are intended for use in the industrial rubber goods and tire markets, providing toughness and performance improvements with no trade-offs in other performance parameters.

Kurt Swogger, CEO and co-founder of Molecular Rebar Design, said “We were looking for a strategic partner to help grow our existing customer base for our rubber products. Thomas Swan & Co is known for their specialty chemical manufacturing and distribution expertise. They are perfectly suited for a distribution role, especially given our like-minded interest in nanomaterials. We believe this beneficial partnership will bring this new technology to a larger market, improving sustainability in rubber applications and benefiting customers and rubber fabricators.”

As a North American specialty chemicals distribution partner within the industrial rubber goods market, Swan Chemical is perfectly poised to expand Molecular Rebar’s adoption in the high-performance segment of this marketplace. Swan Chemical’s renown for value-selling specialty chemicals will help Molecular Rebar grow those applications that benefit most from nanotube reinforcement, such as wear-resistant rubber parts, seals, gaskets, custom rubber goods, and sacrificial rubber liners.

Both Molecular Rebar Design and Swan Chemical target similar segments of the tire and rubber industry, with Swan Chemical having significant success growing market adoption of novel performance additives. Performance products offered today by Thomas Swan include Pepton® peptizing agents, Casabond® bonding agents, Casamod® polymer modifiers and its own Elicarb® nanomaterials, are evidence of Swan’s robust technical sales capability. Together, MRD & Swan Chemical can synergistically develop solutions for performance-oriented customers. MRD’s technical service and development lab, along with Swan’s institutional knowledge, should lower barriers for new customer adoption and help existing customers with new application development, ushering in a new era of nano-reinforcement for rubber.

“Our business in North America has grown substantially over the past several years as a result of both organic growth with existing partners as well as with new partnerships, such as this one with Molecular Rebar” states Ray Fahmy, President of Swan Chemical North America.  “As both a manufacturer and a distributor of specialty chemicals for the tire and rubber industry, we are uniquely positioned and experienced at identifying opportunities and delivering value to our end customers as a result of our existing expertise and strong partnerships throughout the entire supply chain.  We could not be more excited to partner with a company that shares our passion for sustainability, is a technology leader and places value in strong customer support like Molecular Rebar.”

About Molecular Rebar Design

Based in Austin, TX, Molecular Rebar Design (MRD) was founded in 2010 with the recognition that there was a significant gap between the theoretical performance of carbon nanotubes and their commercial viability, primarily due to poor dispersibility. That gap is bridged with MRD’s unique capability to produce discrete, surface tailored carbon nanotubes at scale, called Molecular Rebar® (MR). Protected by over 70 patents, Molecular Rebar improves mechanical, electrical, thermal, and transport properties using easily dispersible forms of MR. MRD’s business model focuses on innovative product development and initial market adoption, before further growing individual business units with outside partners. To achieve this goal, MRD has invested heavily in both R&D and commercial/manufacturing facilities, with market-specific TS&D labs and a market development production plant on site. MRD enables futuristic technologies, such as 3D printing and intracellular transport, while revolutionizing mature global industries, such as lead-acid batteries and tires.

www.molecularrebar.com