Ceramic and glass business news of the week for January 9, 2023

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Active Minerals opens R&D innovation center in Houston

Active Minerals International announced the opening of a new state-of-the-art research & development innovation center in Houston, Texas. AMI is an industry leader in the production of air float kaolin and gellant attapulgite. The innovation center will lead the way for those minerals in new product, process, and application development.

Cornell to lead new semiconductor research center

Cornell University is leading a new $34 million research center for energy-efficient semiconductor materials and technologies. The SUPeRior Energy-efficient Materials and dEvices (SUPREME) Center will bring together researchers from 14 higher education institutions, in collaboration with the center’s sponsor, Semiconductor Research Corp.

National energy storage research institute to be established in Israel

A new national energy storage research institute will be established at the Bar-Ilan University and the Technion in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Institute, which will see an investment of NIS130 million (US$37 million) over the first five years, brings together the two main research communities in this area in Israel.

NGK to introduce solar power at manufacturing sites in Japan and overseas

NGK Insulators, Ltd. decided on a policy of introducing photovoltaic equipment with a total capacity of 40 MW at manufacturing sites in Japan and overseas by fiscal 2025. Consuming renewable energy generated in-house will contribute to the realization of carbon neutrality by cutting annual CO₂ emissions by 22,000 tons.

RWE and Equinor plan Norway-Germany hydrogen pipeline

RWE AG and Equinor AS said they would build new hydrogen-ready gas power plants, as well as a pipeline to send the green fuel to Germany from Norway. RWE and Equinor’s power stations will be constructed in Germany with a capacity of 3 gigawatts and initially powered by gas. They should be fully based on hydrogen by the mid-2030s.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Meta acquires 3D smart glass maker Luxexcel

Meta (formerly Facebook) acquired the Netherlands-based 3D smart glass maker Luxexcel, as it doubles down on its metaverse dream in 2023. Luxexcel can integrate the elements needed to create an augmented reality experience within a prescription lens, such as holographic film and projectors.

Shinagawa Refractories agrees to Brazilian refractory deal

Shinagawa Refractories Co Ltd agreed with Saint-Gobain SA to complete the acquisition of the Brazilian refractories business and the alumina-based wear-resistant ceramics business in the United States from Saint-Gobain SA on Dec. 29, 2022.

Intevac announces completion of joint development agreement for TRIO

Intevac, Inc., a leading supplier of thin-film processing systems, signed a joint development agreement with a major provider of glass and glass-ceramic materials. The agreement includes a five-year period of exclusivity for this key customer, who will deploy the TRIO manufacturing platform for consumer electronics applications.

Chinese tokamak donation helps fuel Thailand’s ambitions in fusion energy research

Thailand wants to become South-East Asia’s hub for fusion energy research, with the region’s first tokamak device due to arrive soon in the country from China. Thailand Tokamak-1, a renovated device formerly used by Chinese researchers, will become a training ground for scientists and engineers from ASEAN member states.

Vidrala reaches strategic agreement with Norvento Enerxía to accelerate decarbonization

Glass container manufacturing and sales company Vidrala reached a strategic agreement with Spanish engineering company Norvento Enerxía, which specializes in renewable energy generation solutions, to work together on its decarbonization plan.

Hydrogen storage in underground concrete shafts may be ‘goldilocks’ solution for UK

U.K. company Gravitricity is looking to raise funds to build a network of underground hydrogen stores after teaming up with specialist construction company VSL Systems to build a pilot of the purpose-built underground lined rock shafts before the end of 2024.

OTHER STORIES

L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc., announces new ownership

Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, the assets of L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc. was acquired by Specialized Thermal Solutions, Inc. The company, however, maintains operations under the name L&L Special Furnace, with David Cunningham serving as both owner and president.

Allied Glass now called Verallia in the UK

Allied Glass changed its name to Verallia in the U.K. The name change is part of its integration into the Verallia group after a £315 million acquisition in November 2022.

Chris Cassidy appointed president of SCHOTT North America

SCHOTT appointed Chris Cassidy as president of SCHOTT North America in addition to his role as president of SCHOTT Pharma USA. In this new role, Cassidy will support the company’s U.S. growth strategy, which aims to increase presence in the region and focus on long-term growth.

India joins EU in mandating USB-C charging port on smartphones

India will require mobile devices in the country to have the USB Type-C standard charging port by March 2025. The requirement follows suit of the European Union, which set a Dec. 28, 2024, deadline for all smartphones sold in member states to have USB-C charging.

Taiwan plans domestic satellite champion to resist any China attack

Taiwan is courting investors to help it establish its own satellite communications provider, inspired by the role Starlink has played in the war in Ukraine, as Taipei ramps up efforts to fortify itself against a potential assault from China.

Notice of intent to issue the Industrial Demonstrations Program Funding Opportunity

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations released a Notice of Intent to provide up to $6.3 billion to support the advancement of transformational technologies necessary to decarbonize the industrial sector and provide the U.S. with a competitive edge in the race to lead the world in low- and net-zero carbon manufacturing.

MARKET TRENDS

Japan to begin extracting rare earth metals from seabed in 2024

In 2024, Japan will begin to extract rare earth materials for electric vehicles and hybrids from sea bottom mud in an area off Minami-Torishima Island, a coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The government aims to reduce reliance on China for rare earth metals.

South Korea to double stockpiles of rare earth minerals

South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy said it will double the government’s stockpiles of rare earth minerals and halve their time until release to boost the supply chain for core minerals.

Could Africa replace China as the world’s source of rare earth elements?

The Brookings Institution evaluates the potential of African countries to leverage the search for new sources of rare earth elements to bring in much-needed revenue to finance core socioeconomic objectives and reduce poverty, use the African Continental Free Trade Area to improve value addition, and strengthen global trade partnerships.

Vietnam becomes focus for new rare earths supply

Vietnam is estimated to have the world’s second-largest exploitable rare earths resource behind China, with 22 million tons of reserves compared with China’s 44 million tons, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Vietnam has so far been unable to tap into its potential despite years of exploration.

Crippling energy costs threaten to wipe out UK’s ceramic makers

Britain’s iconic ceramics industry is slashing production and cutting jobs as surging energy bills push the sector in a key English town to the brink of collapse. The ceramic industry, with annual sales of around £1.6 billion, has operated mostly out of the city of Stoke-on-Trent for about 300 years.

NEW PRODUCTS

Simonds Farsons rolls out refillable glass bottles for PepsiCo brands

PepsiCo partner and Pepsi-Cola portfolio bottler Simonds Farsons Cisk rolled out a new refillable, single-serve, bespoke glass bottle for flagship brands including Pepsi-Cola and Pepsi Max, 7up and 7up Free, and Mirinda.

ASUS went with ceramic for its new Zenbook 14X OLED laptop

This year at CES, ASUS revealed an updated version of its bread and butter ultraportable in the Zenbook 14X OLED. But for 2023, in addition to revamped specs, ASUS is trying out a fancy new ceramic coating on the laptop’s lid. The process used to create the coating is called plasma electrolytic oxidation.

Adani Cement launches green concrete solution ACC ECOMaxX

ACC Limited, the cement and building material company of Adani Cement and part of the Adani Group, launched ACC ECOMaxX in Mumbai and various other locations. ACC ECOMaxX is the industry’s broadest range of green concrete solutions, with 30–100% lower embodied carbon content compared to a reference concrete designed with OPC.