Ceramic and glass business news of the week for June 14, 2021

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

HeidelbergCement to build the world’s first carbon-neutral cement plant

HeidelbergCement announced its intention to upgrade its plant on the Swedish island of Gotland to become the world’s first carbon-neutral cement plant. The installation will be scaled to capture up to 1.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, and the full-scale capturing is targeted by 2030.

Turkish glass manufacturer Sisecam to spend US$310m in Hungary

Turkish glass producer Sisecam is founding a glass packaging factory in Hungary with an asset of €255 million (US$310 million). The facility with two furnaces will have a yearly net output capacity of 330,000 tons. The first furnace will start working in 2023, and the facility will hit full capacity by 2025.

Portugal approves location for 270-MWp solar plant

The local government of the Portuguese town of Palmela approved the location for the construction of a 270-MWp solar photovoltaic project proposed by LOGZ Atlantic HUB SA. The municipality also okayed the infrastructure layout for the solar plant’s connection to the power grid and issued a Declaration of Economic and Social Interest for the project.

First floating solar power plant in Albania starts commercial operations

Renewable energy company Statkraft started commercial operations at the first unit of its floating solar power plant in Albania in cooperation with Norwegian supplier Ocean Sun. The project is expected to continue its second implementation phase during the second half of 2021, whereby additional three floating units will be installed.

KCC Glass breaks ground on greenfield Indonesian float glass plant

South Korean flat glass producer KCC Glass Corp. broke ground on a new float glass plant in Central Java, Indonesia. The RP 5 trillion site (US$350 million) in Batang, Indonesia, will occupy 49 acres at the Integrated Industrial Estate. When completed, it will manufacture about 438,000 tonnes/year of glass for the construction sector.

Wabtec unveils new additive manufacturing facility

Wabtec Corp. opened an 11,000-square-foot additive manufacturing facility at Pittsburgh International Airport’s Innovation Campus. The company announced the construction of its new facility last fall, and began operations there on June 8.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Zeus to integrate catheter-based contract manufacturer

Zeus Industrial Products, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced polymer solutions, finalized an agreement to integrate CathX Medical Inc. into its organization. Based in San Jose, Calif., CathX is a medical device contract manufacturer that offers catheter design engineering services, rapid prototyping, manufacturing, and full or subassemblies.

Vulcan to acquire U.S. Concrete

VULCAN Materials Company, a leading U.S. producer of construction aggregates, and U.S. Concrete Inc., a leading suppliers of aggregates and ready-mixed concrete, entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Vulcan will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of U.S. Concrete common stock for US$1.294 billion.

Hygear signs $1.6 million hydrogen glass manufacturing deal

Dutch provider HyGear signed a 10-year hydrogen recycling Gas-as-a-Service contract with a float glass manufacturer. The pay-per-use contract is valued at approximately $1.6 million in total revenues over the 10-year agreement and was signed after validating the quality of gas over several tests at two flat-glass manufacturing facilities in Germany.

Two South Carolinian companies advance medical technology

SpheroFill, LLC recently received a small business technology transfer award from the National Science Foundation to research medical applications of technology with the Applied Research Center, Inc. SpheroFill and ARC, Inc. are jointly advancing medical applications of porous walled hollow glass microspheres.

Samsung Heavy, KAERI partner to develop nuclear-powered ships

Samsung Heavy Industries will partner with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute to develop molten salt reactors to power ships as well as market offshore power plants. The nuclear development goes alongside Samsung Heavy’s already advanced research and development into ammonia- and hydrogen-powered ships.

Air Products and Baker Hughes to collaborate on global hydrogen projects

Air Products, an industrial gases and megaproject development company, and Baker Hughes, an industrial service company, announced a strategic global collaboration to develop next-generation hydrogen compression to lower the cost of production and accelerate the adoption of hydrogen as a zero-carbon fuel.

Drexel helps establish first trade association for MXenes

Drexel University is helping to establish a global trade association called the MXene Association that will serve as the professional body to establish standards and best practices, connect researchers and corporations, and promote the research and development involving MXenes.

OTHER STORIES

Webinar: Properties and applications of advanced 2D materials

Yury Gogotsi, Distinguished University Professor and Charles T. and Ruth M. Bach Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University, will give a free webinar focused on MXenes and how they complement the array of available 2D materials. The webinar takes place June 16 at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Webinar: Lubrication in glassmaking

A webinar from Condat’s Jerome Charvet will discuss how glassmakers can improve productivity using appropriate swabbing greases. It takes place June 22 at 10 a.m. Eastern.

US DOE announces actions to bolster domestic supply chain of advanced batteries

The U.S. Department of Energy announced new immediate policy actions to scale up domestic manufacturing for advanced battery materials and technologies. These efforts follow the 100-Day review of advanced batteries, which assesses vulnerabilities and opportunities in the current and forecasted battery supply chain landscape.

MARKET TRENDS

The rare earth industry is drawing supply chain lessons from the semiconductor shortage

Both chips and rare earths form critical supply chains that power the high-tech economy. A Quartz article looks at how the current semiconductor shortage can draw parallels to possible shortages in the rare earths supply chain.

The next 20 are years crucial in determining the future of coal

Researchers led by Imperial College London combined data on coal resources and demand in an economic model of trade and prices. They determined that countries including Australia and Indonesia could lose billions of dollars if they continue to invest in new coal mines and exports as the world moves away from fossil fuels.

Could hydrogen help decarbonize the glass manufacturing industry?

The publicly funded German Hyglass project has seen glass association BV Glass and GWI Essen investigate the impact of hydrogen on the combustion processes in glass manufacturing. GWI Essen’s Jorg Leicher will present a paper at the Hydrogen in Glassmaking conference that overviews the project’s results and findings so far.

British Glass raises concerns on UK government’s DRS proposals

British Glass responded to the UK government’s consultation that recently closed, raising fears that the proposed Deposit Return Scheme will have a detrimental impact on closed loop glass recycling, increase carbon emissions, and incentivise an increase in plastic consumption at the expense of glass.

Optical metamaterials will soon be ready for $50 billion optics market

A new Lux Research report explores the market readiness of optical metamaterials while identifying opportunities and challenges. Optical metamaterials provide greater control over direction, transmission, and focusing of light than traditional optical materials.

NEW PRODUCTS

Lightest beer bottle in the world

AB InBev has developed the world’s lightest longneck beer bottle for commercial production. The brewer and owner of brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, Beck’s, and Leffe reduced the weight of its standard longneck beer bottle from 180 to 150 grams, cutting its CO₂ emissions by 17% per bottle.