Fullerene Production in Tons and More: From Science to Industry

Abstract In the last decade, application of fullerenes has been proposed actively in a wide range of areas, and recent developments suggest that many of those applications are to be practical technologies. However, there has been no large‐scale production enterprise for commercial usage of fullerenes. High production cost and limited availability of fullerenes have been the main obstacle in the development of the Fullerene Market. Improved flame‐based technology leads to the most feasible process for mass production of fullerenes, since it is a continuous process and uses inexpensive hydrocarbons as its starting materials. In May 2003, we started fullerene production in tons and more to supply fullerenes with reasonable price as practical materials for industries.