Ceramic and glass business news of the week for September 19, 2022

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Corning opens optical fiber manufacturing plant in Poland

Corning Incorporated formally opened a new optical fiber manufacturing facility in Mszczonów, Poland, to meet growing demand for high-speed connectivity in the European Union and surrounding regions.

Africa’s first hydrogen power plant to start producing electricity in 2024

French independent power producer HDF Energy expects its green hydrogen power plant in Namibia, Africa’s first, to start producing electricity by 2024. Once operational, the 3.1 billion Namibian dollar (US$181.25 million) Swakopmund project will supply clean electricity power, 24 hours a day all-year round.

Canadian Premium Sand secures land for solar glass facility

Canadian Premium Sand entered an agreement with the City of Selkirk in Manitoba, Canada, for the acquisition of 121 acres of land for its solar glass manufacturing facility. The location offers future growth opportunities with sufficient land to accommodate up to four phases of capacity expansion.

American Resources to build combined battery and rare earth magnets recycling facility

ReElement Technologies LLC, a majority owned subsidiary of American Resources Corp., has commenced engineering, planning, and development for its second lithium-ion battery and rare earth magnet recycling and metal recovery facility. The company has narrowed the site selection for this 200,000-square-foot facility to one of two properties.

Ucore pushes back plans for Ketchikan rare earth processing facility to late 2024

Canadian company Ucore Rare Metals Inc. announced that it is pushing back its target opening date for a rare earth mineral refining complex in Southeast Alaska to late 2024. That hinges on finding a building in the city of Ketchikan to house the plant.

Solvay to develop major hub for rare earth magnets in Europe

Solvay plans to expand its rare earths operations to enter the value chain for rare earths permanent magnets in Europe. Its plant in La Rochelle, France, currently serves the automotive emissions control and semiconductors markets. The new investment will expand and upgrade an existing unit to add production of separated rare earth oxides.

Cementos Progreso inaugurates new innovation and development center in Guatemala

Cementos Progreso, the largest cement company in Guatemala, inaugurated a new innovation and development center in Guatemala for the research and development of 3D printing technology for the construction sector.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Heliene to source solar glass from Canadian Premium Sand

Heliene, a U.S.-based manufacturer of solar modules, entered into a memorandum of understanding with Canadian Premium Sand Inc. to acquire patterned solar glass from the company’s glass manufacturing facility being developed in Selkirk, Manitoba.

Gerresheimer and Stevanato form pharmaceutical glass partnership

Gerresheimer and Stevanato jointly developed a ready-to-use solution platform with an initial focus on vials, based on Stevanato’s EZ-fill technology. The collaboration aims to make these vials a standard, available to a wide number of pharma companies globally.

ORNL, CHASM partner to drive decarbonization of cement

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and CHASM Advanced Materials are joining forces to advance scalable decarbonization technologies from discovery through deployment through a new memorandum of understanding.

NSF, DOD partner to advance 5G technologies and communications

The National Science Foundation and Department of Defense Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering partnered on an investment of $12 million to fund 16 multidisciplinary teams for the Convergence Accelerator program 2022 cohort for the research topic “Track G: Securely operating through 5G infrastructure.”

NIST and Google to create new supply of chips for researchers and tech startups

The National Institute of Standards and Technology signed a cooperative research and development agreement with Google to develop and produce chips that researchers can use to develop new nanotech and semiconductor devices. Chips will be manufactured by SkyWater Technology at its Bloomington, Minn., semiconductor foundry.

Rare earths explorer enters agreement with Native group

Defense Metals Corp. entered into a mineral exploration agreement with the McLeod Lake Indian Band for its Wicheeda rare earth element deposit in British Columbia. The company just finished diamond drilling at the site and is expecting assay results any day.

OTHER STORIES

Old Barrel Whiskey takes top prize in student glass packaging design competition

The Glass Packaging Institute, in partnership with Michigan State University School of Packaging, announced the winners of the 2022 Glass Packaging Design Competition. The first-place team out of 37 total submissions includes five Michigan State University students who designed a bottle for Old Barrel Whiskey.

UK government set to create critical minerals mining agency

The U.K. government decided to move forward with creation of a critical minerals mining agency, the country’s Critical Minerals Association, an adviser to the government on its critical minerals strategy.

Biden-Harris Admin approves first 35 state plans to build out EV charging infrastructure

The Biden-Harris Administration announced more than two-thirds of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plans were approved ahead of schedule under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program.

MARKET TRENDS

Titanium dioxide EU ban in full force, alternatives hit the market

In the European Union, the phasing out period for titanium dioxide came to a halt on August 7, which means the ban is in full swing. This new constraint pushed confectionery manufacturers, among other food innovators, to change their product formulations.

NEW PRODUCTS

Pots & Co replaces ceramic pots with glass to improve sustainability

Handmade dessert company Pots & Co announced plans to move its entire ceramic range into glass pots. The glass pots will be 100% recyclable and 100% reusable as part of the brand’s commitment to sustainability.

Yotta Energy launches three new products for simplified solar, storage, and EV tech

Yotta Energy is launching three new products: the Yotta DPI-208 and DPI-480, a native 3-phase microinverter for commercial solar and storage applications; Yotta EV, a line of commercial EV chargers offering a simplified level 2 charging experience; and Yotta REV, a solar-powered EV charging station that can be deployed in less than 48 hours.