Ceramic and glass business news of the week for September 9, 2024

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

TotalEnergies to add floating offshore wind power at North Sea Culzean field

TotalEnergies will install a 3-MW floating wind turbine to supply power to its Culzean gas-oil production complex in the U.K. central North Sea. The turbine, located 2 km to the west of Culzean platform, should be fully operational by the end of 2025, when it will supply about 20% of the field’s power needs.

Westinghouse welcomes approval of four new reactors in China

China’s State Power Investment Corp. and China General Nuclear Power Corp. received approval from China’s State Council to add four plants based on Westinghouse Electric Company’s AP1000 technology. This project brings the total number of operational and approved reactors in China based on AP1000 technology to 16.

Enphase Energy announces solution for expanding legacy NEM solar systems in California

Enphase Energy Inc. announced a solution for expanding legacy net energy metering solar systems in California using new system configurations. Before, homeowners enrolled in legacy NEM programs were limited on how much they could expand without being transitioned to the new tariff program, which offers less value for exported solar energy.

Hrastnik1860 makes hydrogen breakthrough in glass process

Slovenian-based glass manufacturer Hrastnik1860 achieved a breakthrough by integrating hydrogen as a primary fuel source in its glass production processes last year. The company used more than 60% of hydrogen for its combustion needs during the production of 200,000 of Bacardi’s 70cl premium glass bottles.

Critical Metals launches drilling at Greenland rare earth project

Mining development company Critical Metals initiated a diamond drilling program at the Tanbreez rare earth mine in Greenland. The 14-hole drilling program is designed to transition the resource from Inferred to Indicated status and to support an increase in throughput from 500,000 metric tons per annum to three million metric tons per annum.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Sunroc of Utah buys Arizona concrete producer

Concrete producer Metro Mix LLC of Mesa, Ariz., is now under the ownership of Sunroc Corp., a subsidiary of Utah-based Clyde Companies Inc. that supplies concrete, asphalt, aggregates, masonry, and other construction materials.

Vibrantz Technologies acquires specialty alumina company Micro Abrasives Corporation

Vibrantz Technologies acquired Micro Abrasives Corporation, a leading U.S. manufacturer of calcined alumina used in the automotive refinishing, optics polishing, and industrial lapping markets.

Regency Ceramics acquires Segno Ceramics

Ceramics manufacturing company Regency Ceramics announced a structured takeover of Segno Ceramics. The deal gives Regency access to Segno’s 50-acre manufacturing facility, expanding its production capacity by 3.6 million square meters a year. The facility will manufacture a range of products, including glazed and polished vitrified tiles.

Taiwanese manufacturers form glass substrate alliance 

Taiwanese manufacturers led by E&R Engineering Corp. formed the “E-core System Alliance of Glass Substrate Suppliers” to pool expertise and capitalize on this technology.

US and Ghana sign landmark commercial agreement for small modular reactor project

At the U.S.–Africa Nuclear Energy Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, representatives from the U.S. and Ghana signed a commercial agreement between Nuclear Power Ghana and U.S. nuclear developer Regnum Technology Group to collaborate on a small modular reactor project using NuScale Power technology.

Turkey seeks Chinese partnership on rare earth elements for EVs

Turkey is working toward teaming up with China to process a deposit of rare earth elements, a potential partnership that could make the country more appealing to Chinese manufacturers of electric vehicles and batteries.

OTHER STORIES

International Commission on Glass appoints new president

The International Commission on Glass appointed Hiroyuki Inoue as its new president. Past president Reinhard Conradt, who served for the period 2021–2024, handed over his position at ICG’s annual meeting, which took place in Incheon, Republic of Korea.

British Glass updates glass recycling roadmap

British Glass, the trade association representing the U.K. glass manufacturing industry, updated its report titled “A Roadmap to Closed Loop Glass Recycling.” The report outlines how the U.K. can reach a 90% glass packaging recycling rate by 2030. The roadmap emphasizes the necessity of improving both the quality and quantity of glass collected.

Kentucky launches statewide glass recycling program

Governor Andy Beshear announced the launch of Kentucky’s first dedicated glass recycling program. The $350,000 glass processing initiative is expected to process more than 1,200 tons of end-of-life glass packaging into new bottles in its first year.

US implements new controls on advanced technology alongside international partners

The U.S. published new controls on advanced technology in line with restrictions imposed by international partners. Besides quantum computing, the controls will affect equipment for producing advanced semiconductors, additive manufacturing items to produce metal components, and gate all-around field-effect transistor technology.

Editorial: Is it time to abandon the term ‘citizen science’?

In a recent article, the C&EN editorial staff argue that dropping the term “citizen science” could avoid minimizing the work of data collectors that scientists depend on and include them as true collaborators.

MARKET TRENDS

Phytomining: A possible source of minerals to power the clean energy transition

Plants called hyperaccumulators are known to accumulate high levels of metals as a defense mechanism. The United States Department of Energy, through its Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy office, recently launched a $9.9 million program to explore mining metals from these plants, in a process they call phytomining.

Report: More than half of waste, recycling datasets phased out under UK Conservatives

A new analysis by the Copper Sustainability Partnership revealed a sharp decline in environmental reporting under the former Conservative government in the U.K., with more than half of waste and recycling datasets phased out between 2010 and 2022.

New report highlights economic value of neutron science to US industry

Federal facilities that offer neutron beams for U.S. industry play an outsized role in bringing new goods to market more quickly and cost effectively, according to an analysis of neutron science’s economic impact conducted by RTI International. Despite these benefits, most of the surveyed facility users indicated that they had difficulty performing their research due to inadequate domestic capacity for neutron measurement science.

NEW PRODUCTS

Ecofriendly glass invented at Penn State secures partner for product development

LionGlass, a new family of glass engineered by researchers at The Pennsylvania State University, secured its first corporate partner: Bormioli Luigi, an Italian glassmaker that specializes in producing high-end packaging for fragrance, cosmetics, and tableware.