Ceramic and glass business news of the week for October 4, 2021

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Betolar, JA-KO Betoni to use Keliber’s lithium mine side streams for lower-carbon concrete

Betolar, a Finnish material technology company that offers sustainable and low-carbon concrete production, and concrete company JA-KO Betoni will use the tailings produced as a side stream in Keliber’s minerals processing and analcime sand produced later in the lithium production process as aggregate in concrete production.

World’s first hydrogen trial in UK demonstrates pathway to net zero cement

The Mineral Products Association and Hanson UK completed a world first trial at Hanson’s Ribblesdale cement works in Clitheroe, Lancashire. The trial saw the proportion of fuels in the cement kiln’s main burner being gradually increased to a wholly net zero mix consisting of tanker delivered hydrogen as well as meat and bone meal and glycerine.

The world’s biggest carbon-sucking machine is switching on in Iceland

The largest direct air capture plant in the world opened September 8 in Iceland. Operated by the Swiss engineering startup Climeworks, the plant, known as Orca, will annually draw down a volume of emissions equivalent to about 870 cars.

Construction begins on first integrated commercial plant for producing CO₂-neutral fuel

Siemens Energy and sports car manufacturer Porsche joined forces with several international companies to build an industrial plant for the production of virtually CO₂-neutral fuel in Punta Arenas, Chile.

HarbisonWalker International invests in US refractories manufacturing hub for steel industry

HarbisonWalker International, the largest supplier of refractory products and services in North America, is making an investment to substantially increase production of its steelmaking products. The company will build a manufacturing and service hub for steel customers in the U.S., with an expected opening as early as the third quarter of 2022.

Ciner Glass to build €400 million Belgium glass packaging factory

Ciner Glass Belgium, a subsidiary of Ciner Glass, is to establish a glass packaging factory in Lommel. The production capacity will be 500kt/year of glass packaging, and sand extracted in the region will be used as raw material for glass packaging.

Glass manufacturer invests €9 million in Latvian furnace

Latvian glass manufacturer Valmiera Glass completed an extensive reconstruction of its glass melting furnace. The group invested €9 million in its E-glass melting furnace no 2.2, which it said would improve the production quality of the furnace and make it more efficient and climate neutral.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Schott signs agreement to acquire Applied Microarrays

Schott Minifab, a subsidiary of Schott that develops and manufactures micro-fluidic devices for point-of-care and life sciences consumables has signed an agreement to acquire Applied Microarrays. The companies will develop biotech substrates for diagnostics applications.

Alcoa, Alumtek Minerals look at critical mineral potential of residue

U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa will work with Brisbane-based Alumtek Minerals and Western Australian government research hub ChemCentre to advance Alumtek Minerals’ processing technology to extract critical minerals from mining waste.

Sivó adds Meltio Engine for hybrid additive manufacturing

Sivó, an industrial machine shop based in Caudete, Spain, installed the Meltio Engine’s wire-based directed energy deposition technology in one of its computer numerical control machines. Sivó will use the technology to improve its glass bottle mold repair process.

Lujabetoni and Betolar accelerate the global growth of low-carbon concrete

The Finnish concrete manufacturer Lujabetoni and materials technology company Betolar entered a partnership to improve the consolidation rate of low-carbon concrete manufactured from CEM III cement containing GGBFS blast furnace slag.

Corning and AT&T expand collaboration

Corning Incorporated is expanding its longtime collaboration with AT&T The two companies will work together to extend investments in fiber infrastructure, expand U.S. broadband networks, and accelerate 5G deployment.

OTHER STORIES

Webinar: Inspection in glassmaking

Glass International is holding a webinar on inspection in glassmaking on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. Eastern. Speakers include Eleonora Bordini, international industry manager of glass packaging at Marposs, and Friedrich Günther, shareholder and CEO of Dr. Günther Inspections GbR.

New virtual renewable glass manufacturing conference

Glass International is coordinating a new two-day virtual conference that will highlight some of the potential solutions the glass industry has in order for it to be net zero / low carbon in its manufacturing processes. The virtual conference takes place Nov. 9–10, 2021.

Advanced Materials for Defense Summit taking place in November

The 4^th Advanced Materials for Defense Summit will convene senior leadership from across the services, federal government, industry and academia to discuss the policies and procedures required to leverage material innovation for sustained defense readiness. The summit takes place in-person on Nov. 3–4, 2021, in Alexandria, Virginia.

Slag Cement group calls for project nominations in rebranded awards

The Slag Cement Association is accepting nominations or entries in the Slag Cement in Sustainable Concrete Awards Program—formerly Project of the Year Awards—through November 1. Award categories now include Architectural, Durability, Infrastructure, High Performance, Innovative Applications, and Lower Carbon Concrete.

Enphase Energy expands into Brazil

Enphase Energy Inc., a California-based energy technology company and microinverter-based, solar-plus-storage systems supplier, entered the Brazilian solar market with the introduction of its IQ 7+ microinverters. Enphase will start shipping its IQ 7+ microinverters for residential and small commercial installers across Brazil starting in October 2021.

SINTX Armor ships first order and prepares for move to Utah

SINTX Technologies, Inc. announced that its newly created and wholly-owned subsidiary, SINTX Armor, will be located in Salt Lake City, Utah. SINTX Armor will manufacture pure boron carbide as well as a lower-cost composite of boron carbide and silicon carbide. Both ceramics will be developed and manufactured for personnel, aircraft, and vehicle armor.

O-I Glass unveils $680 million growth investment plans

O-I Glass announced plans for global investments worth up to $680 million, as it looks to expand its glass packaging capacity. The company plans to add up to 700,000 tons of extra glass packaging capacity and to focus on its expansion of premium products across the United States and United Kingdom.

Alteo to impose temporary energy surcharge on calcined alumina sales

The increase in energy costs, which has accelerated in recent weeks, is having a very strong impact on manufacturers and on the production of alumina. To cope with the additional production costs incurred, Alteo is obliged to apply a temporary energy surcharge on all shipments of alumina as of Oct. 4, 2021.

MARKET TRENDS

How Zurich blazed a trail for recycled concrete

A Bloomberg article looks at how the Swiss city of Zurich quietly became a frontrunner in advancing environmentally friendly construction. The city requires that all publicly-owned buildings be made using recycled concrete, and in 2013, the city went a step further to mandate the use of carbon dioxide-reduced cement.

Africa’s rural universities aren’t delivering for the 21^st century

University of South Africa postdoctoral researcher Chinaza Uleanya writes an article on The Conversation about his literature review to understand the process of how rural higher education institutions in Africa have adjusted their educational systems as well as their curricula to suit the demands of current times.

Lights-out manufacturing for most tasks will be feasible starting in late 2020s

A new report by Lux Research predicts that most manufacturing tasks that require one or two highly mature robots will be automated between late 2020 and early 2030. However, highly unstructured tasks like equipment repair and installation will probably always require some human intervention and never be fully automated.

NEW PRODUCTS

Uprise 3D offers metal, ceramic, and composite AM on new machine

The newest additive manufacturing machine by Uprise 3D Technology Co Ltd, the UPS-250, incorporates two independent nozzles and can extrude metal or ceramic materials to form complex structures, combining two different metals, two different ceramics, or a metal and a ceramic to form a composite part.

Bricking Solutions’ Brokk Cart increases demolition robot transportation efficiency

Bricking Solutions, a full solution provider of refractory installation equipment, partners with parent company Brokk, a manufacturer of remote-controlled demolition machines, to offer the Brokk Cart. The wheeled cart improves efficiency when moving remote-controlled demolition robots across hard, level surfaces, such as those in a maintenance shop.

L&L: Bench-mounted box furnace for laboratory testing of silica and quartz products 

L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc. has shipped a second bench-mounted box furnace to a worldwide leading manufacturer of high-purity fused silica and high-end ceramic products. The Model GS1714 has internal dimensions of 17” wide by 12” high by 14-1/2” deep. It has an operating voltage of 208, 220, 240 volts single phase, 60 or 50 hertz.

Nanovis announces alpha launch of bioceramic nanotube-enhanced pedicle screw system

Nanotechnology-driven surgical implant company Nanovis announced the first implantations of its bioceramic nanotube-enhanced pedicle screw system, Nano FortiFix, the only nanotechnology designated titanium-surfaced pedicle screw.

Proximus and AGC successfully trial glass antenna

Proximus and AGC completed testing of a new type of antenna for mobile networks, at the Proximus Tower in Brussels, Belgium. The WAVEATTOCH glass antenna was designed for easy installation directly on glazed facades. Once installed, the antenna helps improve the coverage and the capacity of mobile networks, including those using 5G technology.

Vermont manufacturer introduces low-embodied carbon building material to US

Vermont-based Glavel offers a low-carbon alternative to the crushed stone and foam board typically used under the slab of a building to provide drainage and insulation—namely foam glass gravel made from recycled glass.