DSM's bio-based high performance EcoPaXX polyamide 410 has been selected by Dytech-Dynamic Fluid Technologies (Airasca, Italy) for the fuel vapor separators it produces for Ferrari and Maserati sports cars. This solution, in halogen-free flame retardant EcoPaXX Q-KGS6, will reportedly increase the fire safety of the cars by combining flame retardancy with a high level of chemical resistance, essential for this application.

EcoPaXX has, in addition to its unique technical performance, an extra advantage in that PA 410 is 70% derived from renewable resources and is certified Carbon Neutral from cradle to gate.

The fuel vapor separator is an important element of the complete fuel delivery system in road vehicles. It separates vapors from liquid fuel coming out from the fuel tank, and prevents the liquid fuel reaching-and contaminating-the fuel vapor canister. This prevents the evaporating fumes from reaching the atmosphere while also maintaining proper fuel tank pressures. 

While fuel lines themselves have a coextruded outer cover in a flame retardant thermoplastic, fuel vapor separators are most often still made from a non-flame-retardant polyamide (PA). Dytech Dynamic Fluid Technologies, based just outside Turin, Italy, and part of Japan's Tokai Rubber Industries group, develops and supplies fuel delivery components and systems for many of the world's leading automotive companies. Dytech chose the innovative halogen-free flame retardant EcoPaXX to meet increasing fire safety requirements as well as a wide range of other demanding requirements for the application.

EcoPaXX is said to be highly resistant and impermeable to conventional gasoline fuel (E10) as well as to the more sustainable E85 fuel. In the SHED (Sealed Housing for Evaporative Determination) test, EcoPaXX fuel vapor separators showed a very low permeation level for E10, of 0.002 grams/24 h. EcoPaXX Q-KGS6 also has a UL 94 V-0 flammability rating at 0.7 mm.

Furthermore, the high thermal stability of EcoPaXX is demonstrated by its maximum continuous use temperature of 175°C. This engineering plastic also has very good dimensional stability (proven by short term aging at 100°C), and outperforms current materials used in low temperature impact tests carried out at -30°C. EcoPaXX also passed tube extraction and impact tests after thermal and fuel aging, as well as fatigue resistance.

 "We have been very impressed by the performance we have obtained from the new EcoPaXX fuel vapor separators," says Mario Zasa, Research & Development at Dytech. "Our customers make some of the most prestigious cars on the road, and they call for top quality solutions from their suppliers. Working with DSM, we have succeeded again in meeting their demands."

DSM engineering plastics are increasingly used in various elements of automotive and non-automotive fuel systems. For example, another grade of EcoPaXX, Q-HG6, has been tested successfully in automotive fuel line quick couplings, and Akulon Fuel Lock, a special grade of polyamide 6 for injection and blow-molding applications, provides outstanding resistance to permeation without the need for additives or post-molding treatments in such products as CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) tanks and off-road fuel tanks.