Ceram to host ‘Resource Efficiency’ event
Next Friday, Sept. 20, Ceram will hold a free “Resource Efficiency” breakfast forum at its headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, England. According to the company, Resource Efficiency is all about using the Earth’s limited resources in a sustainable manner while minimizing impacts on the environment. Resource Efficiency “builds on the experience gained through a focus on all things carbon, energy, and CO₂-related, and combines these with water, waste, and materials, embracing life cycle assessment and other concepts and principles,” the company says. Attendees interested in raw materials, manufacturing processes, sales and distribution, use, end of life or reuse/recycling will learn about opportunities in the supply chain to improve performance and cost efficiency.
Roanoke Cement named Exemplary Environmental Enterprise
Roanoke (Va.) Cement Co. has been accepted as an Exemplary Environmental Enterprise participant in the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program through the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. Virginia’s DEQ director toured the plant before formally recognizing the facility’s environmental record. The plant also received the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star award for the seventh time, and Roanoke’s Troutville plant was the winner of the Portland Cement Association’s Cement Industry Energy and Environment Outreach Award for the second time.
Rockwood completes sale of CeramTec
Rockwood Holdings Inc. announced that it completed the sale of CeramTec, its advanced ceramics business, to Cinven, a European private equity firm. Purchase price was €1.49 billion. Headquartered in Plochingen, Germany, CeramTec is a global producer of high-performance advanced ceramics materials and products. With approximately 3,000 employees and 18 facilities globally, it serves four principal end-markets: Medical; electronics; industrial; and automotive.
Report covers medical ceramics market 2012–2018
Advances in artificial implant technology are driving the global need for ceramic materials in the medical industry, according to a new market report. Biocompatibility and resistance to wear make ceramics ideal for medical implant applications, the report says, and the global medical ceramics market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.5 percent through 2018. The publication also analyzes the medical ceramics market by segment and geography, including trend analysis, market numbers, industry growth drivers and restraints, and future market projections. Market segments covered include dental, orthopedic, implantable electronic devices, surgical & diagnostic instruments, and other applications; materials covered include alumina, zirconia, zirconia-alumina, and others.
OSHA proposes crystalline silica exposure rule
The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration wants to lower worker exposure to crystalline silica, which it says kills hundreds of workers and sickens thousands more each year. Currently in the public comment phase, the proposal would save nearly 700 lives per year and prevent 1,600 new cases of silicosis annually, according to the agency. Exposure to airborne silica dust occurs in operations involving cutting, sawing, drilling, and crushing of concrete, brick, block, and other stone products and in operations using sand products, such as in glass manufacturing, foundries and sand blasting. The proposed rule includes a new exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica and details widely used methods for controlling worker exposure, conducting medical surveillance, training workers about silica-related hazards, and recordkeeping.
O-I names new global vice president of R&D
Owens-Illinois Inc. has named Ludovic Valette as global vice president of research and development. Valette will be responsible for leading the company’s efforts to find new, sustainable, and innovative ways of melting and forming glass. Valette joins O-I from The Dow Chemical Co., where he held various leadership positions over the past 13 years. He holds a master’s degree in material science and engineering and a PhD in macromolecular chemistry and composites from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France.