Ceramic and glass business news of the week for July 18, 2022

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Turkey likely hasn’t found the rare earth metals it says it has

A Wired article interviews experts who are skeptical about Turkey’s recent claims about a deposit containing massive amounts of rare earth elements. They suggest the alleged 694 million tons likely refers instead to preprocessed minerals, not rare earth oxides.

STMicro and GlobalFoundries to build chip factory in EU tech independence push

STMicroelectronics and GlobalFoundries are teaming up to build a semiconductor manufacturing factory in France. The Élysée Palace said the joint investment from the Switzerland and U.S.-based companies would be worth €5.7bn, but declined to specify how much public money would be allocated since details were still being finalized.

Stoelzle completes €45 million Polish glass manufacturing investment

Stoelzle Częstochowa celebrated the successful rebuild and expansion of its 480 t/day flint furnace. The project was completed in the impressively short time of 11 weeks. The new furnace will be provided with three more efficient and faster production lines.

Tata Chemicals Europe opens UK’s largest carbon capture plant

Northwich-based Tata Chemicals Europe, one of Europe’s leading producers of sodium carbonate, salt, and sodium bicarbonate, officially opened the U.K.’s first industrial scale carbon capture and usage plant. The £20 million investment captures 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and reduces TCE’s carbon emissions by more than 10%.

Lehigh cement plant in Union Bridge, Maryland, transitions to EcoCemPLC

Lehigh Hanson, Inc. announced that its Lehigh cement plant in Union Bridge, Md., will fully transition from producing ordinary portland cement to EcoCemPLC as its primary product by no later than January 2023. The Union Bridge plant is currently the company’s largest cement plant in North America.

Gujarat’s ceramic tiles hub to take month-long break after production glut

India’s largest ceramic tiles manufacturing cluster in Morbi, Gujarat, will shut for a month in August as it predicts demand falling after enhanced capacity created a glut.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Mexico’s Cemex acquires majority stake in German aggregates producer

Mexican cement maker Cemex completed the acquisition of a 53% stake in ProStein, a German company that makes aggregates. The company’s aggregate sales in Germany are expected to double with the acquisition, and capacity will increase to serve major cities in Poland and the Czech Republic as well as Berlin.

Dalmia Bharat Refractories partners with Shinagawa Refractories

India-based Dalmia Bharat Refractories and Japan-based Shinagawa Refractories launched a refractories partnership to serve India and other markets.

Bosch partners with KIT and BASF to produce 3D-printed microreactor

Bosch Advanced Ceramics collaborated with Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and chemical company BASF to develop an additively manufactured, highly complex microreactor made of technical ceramics for high-temperature reactions.

GE turns to Australia for critical renewable materials

GE signed a provisional agreement with Australia’s Arafura Resources to offtake from the company’s flagship Nolans Project in the Northern Territory, which is aiming to become a major supplier of critical materials for wind turbines and electric vehicles.

Partnership formed to develop PV integrated steel for active green buildings

Tata Steel UK and Swansea University entered a three-year research collaboration to test the ability of buildings to generate, store, and release their own supply of energy. The collaboration is exploring ways to integrate perovskite solar cells in active buildings.

Renishaw partners with joint specialist Marle over power flexibility

Engineering company Renishaw collaborated with medical device manufacturer Marle Group to help improve its powder flexibility for bespoke jobs and overall manufacturing accuracy. Marle Group specializes in the production of large joints, such as knee and hip.

OTHER STORIES

SCHOTT produces 500^th M1 primary mirror segment for Extremely Large Telescope

SCHOTT produced its 500^th M1 primary mirror segment for the European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope in Chile. The mirror segments are composed of SCHOTT’s glass-ceramic ZERODUR material. In total, SCHOTT will produce 949 M1 hexagonal segments for the telescope, which is expected to see its first light by 2027.

US export control agency establishes ‘Academic Outreach Initiative’

The Department of Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security announced on June 28 it has established an initiative to help U.S. university officials better understand export control restrictions and methods foreign governments use to exploit academic institutions.

BV Glas presents glass manufacturers roadmap to climate neutrality

German glass association the Bundesverband Glasindustrie presented its CO₂ roadmap for climate neutrality at a parliamentary evening. Whether hydrogen, biogas or electricity, the key to climate neutrality is to replace natural gas, which currently still accounts for 77% of the final energy mix, in the long term.

MARKET TRENDS

Myanmar resumes trade of rare earth minerals with China

Exports of heavy rare earth minerals from Myanmar to China resumed after a months-long closure of the land border aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Campaigners say the sale of the metals is strengthening Myanmar’s junta and have called for stricter regulations to ensure major car manufacturers are not using them in their vehicles.

China’s sand dredgers run gray zone warfare in Taiwan

In 2020, Taiwan expelled nearly 4,000 Chinese sand-dredgers and sand-transporting vessels from its waters—a 560% leap from 2019. A Foreign Policy article looks at how this activity gets Beijing much-needed sand—and presents Taiwan with large expenses and maritime degradation.

Nikkei study finds Toyota with huge lead in solid-state battery patents

Nikkei partnered with Tokyo research company Patent Result to analyze solid-state battery patent applications submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization and another group. They found Toyota Motor is by far the leading holder of solid-state battery patents with 1,331 patents. Panasonic Holdings is a distant second with 445 patents.

Cement shortages are putting pressure on Canada’s construction industry

The construction sector is having a boom year, as consumers and companies pour more dollars into building infrastructure. But cement has become scarce, and the shortage—caused by a confluence of increased demand, labor shortages, inflation, and issues at major plants—is creating serious problems for the construction industry across Canada.

NEW PRODUCTS

CeramTec receives FDA breakthrough device designation for ceramic knee device

CeramTec announced FDA breakthrough device designation for its ceramic total knee replacement device.

US battery startup to produce solid-state batteries with bi-layer cell design

Ion Storage Systems, a U.S. battery startup based in Maryland, received $30 million in Series A venture capital funding that will go toward scaling up its solid-state battery cell production facility, with aims to produce 10 MWh per year by the end of 2023 for a range of applications.

Kyocera and SHISEIDO develop cosmetic face powder using Kyocera’s ‘Kyoto Opal’

Kyocera and SHISEIDO announced development of the “Precious Opal Powder” for use in “The Luminizing Face Enhancer” to be released by Shiseido Co., Ltd.’s global luxury brand Clé de Peau Beauté in July 2022. Precious Opal Powder uses Kyocera’s “Kyoto Opal,” which is the first time the artificial gemstones will be used in a cosmetic solution.