Ceramic and glass business news of the week for March 7, 2022

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Orion Engineered Carbons opens new line in Italy for specialty, technical rubber customers

Orion Engineered Carbons began commercial sales in Italy from the first new reactor for carbon black production to be commissioned in the European Union in over 40 years. The new 25-kiloton line at the facility in the northern city of Ravenna produces both specialty and technical rubber carbon blacks, primarily for the European market.

Lanwa Sanstha Cement factory opens in Sri Lanka

State-of-the-art cement manufacturing facility of Lanwa Sanstha Cement Corporation Ltd. was recently inaugurated in the Mirijjawila Export Processing Zone, Hambantota. The facility will produce the full range of cement products, including ordinary Portland cement, Portland composite cement, and blended hydraulic cement.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

Tata Steel subsidiary to acquire bioceramics firm Ceramat

Tata Steel Advanced Materials, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, has executed a share purchase cum shareholders’ agreement for acquisition of 90% equity stake in Ceramat. Ceramat was incorporated on Nov. 2, 2021, for the purpose of advanced ceramics with healthcare focus.

Xaar acquires Megnajet to accelerate growth

Xaar completed the acquisition of Megnajet, a specialist in the design and manufacture of industrial ink management and supply systems for inkjet digital printing. The deal accelerates Xaar’s growth strategy of offering its customers, particularly user developer integrators, greater integration across inkjet systems.

ENGIE and O-I drive green electricity transformation in Europe

O-I Glass secured a deal with ENGIE to provide an aggregate 4.3 TWh of renewable electricity generated from solar, wind, and hydro sources over 10 years to O-I production sites. ENGIE already supplies O-I with natural gas and electricity in several European countries, as well as energy efficiency services for O-I factories in France.

Forglass develops complex engineering solution for Saint-Gobain ISOVER in France

Forglass partnered with Saint-Gobain ISOVER to develop a complex engineering solution aimed at modernizing the plant in Orange, France, which produces glass wool. The crux of the project is the replacement of the current batch transport system.

OTHER STORIES

Lecture series: ​​120 years of Irish stained glass

The Glass Society of Ireland is holding a lecture series  on the history of Irish stained glass. It will take place every second Tuesday of each month, starting March 8. Lectures will be given by Irish scholars, academics, and practitioners.

DTEK holds energy front in Ukraine, renewables are offline

Ukrainian energy group DTEK reported that due to damaged overhead lines, renewable energy plants operated by it do not currently supply electricity to the grid, but other facilities are helping to maintain continuity of the energy system during the country’s invasion by Russian armed forces.

Kyocera named among ‘Top 100 Global Innovators 2022’ by Clarivate

Kyocera Corporation has been recognized among the Top 100 Global Innovators 2022 by Philadelphia-based Clarivate. The Top 100 Global Innovators consist of companies and institutions that demonstrate the capabilities, consistency, incredible creativity, and new thinking that solve pressing challenges and establish new value for the world.

L&L ships large car-bottom furnace used for heat-treating steel pipes and fittings

L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc., shipped a large gas-fired normalizing furnace to a worldwide manufacturer of pipes, tubes, and fittings used for various military contracts. The car-bottom-style furnace features a load car that moves in and out of the unit on supplied railroad-type rails.

Harper International receives contract for graphite purification furnace systems

Harper International entered an equipment supply agreement with Westwater Resources, Inc. to produce custom-engineered systems for thermal purification of natural graphite. These furnace systems are a part of Westwater’s Phase 1 facility investment and will be installed at the Coosa Graphite Production facility located in Alabama.

Xaar highlights ‘the inkjet opportunity’ at InPrint

At this year’s InPrint exhibition in Munich, Xaar will highlight the growing importance of inkjet in today’s manufacturing processes, either through replacing traditional production methods or in delivering new applications.

CEMCO names new president

CEMCO Inc., a manufacturer of portable and stationary VSI crushing systems, appointed Jennifer Hise-Trujillo as its new president. Hise-Trujillo takes over for her father, Neil Hise, who will remain with the company as chairman of the board and assist in an advisory role.

IPCC releases latest climate change impacts report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the second part of its sixth climate assessment report last week, examining the regional risks and impacts of climate change. The report includes two new sections focused on cities and low-lying coastal communities and is accompanied by a global-to-regional impacts atlas.

USGS updates critical minerals list

On February 22, the U.S. Geological Survey released a congressionally mandated update to the list of minerals it deems critical to the U.S. economy and national security. The list now includes 50 minerals, 15 more than when the list was first released in 2018, which is largely due to splitting the rare earth elements and platinum group elements into individual entries.

MARKET TREND

LG to exit global solar panel business

LG Electronics Inc. is exiting the global solar panel business. The decision, approved February 22 by the LG board of directors in South Korea, follows a comprehensive review of the impact of increasing material and logistics costs, as well as severe supply constraints, on the solar business.

China calls on rare earths companies to bring prices back to ‘reasonable’ level

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China summoned some key rare earths companies amid continuously-rising product prices and urged them to ensure a steady supply chain to help cool prices. They also urged the companies to take a lead in promoting a pricing mechanism for rare earths products.

NEW PRODUCTS

SCHOTT presents award-winning fire-viewing panels to the US

SCHOTT will be releasing their ROBAX IR SuperMax and ROBAX NightView products for glass-ceramic fire-viewing panels in the United States after previously being available in Europe. The products will be presented at booth 1317 of HPB Expo 2022, which takes place March 3–5 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

SGD Pharma launches industry first ready-to-use sterile 100 ml molded glass vials

SGD Pharma announced the introduction of its 100H ml ready-to-use Type I molded glass vials for aseptic fill/finish of parenteral drug products. SGD Pharma is the first global molded glass manufacturing company to offer this size of solution in the ready-to-use market. The 100 ml vials are available in both clear and amber molded glass.

Airnov develops sustainable upgrade to DRICARD moisture absorbers

Airnov Healthcare Packaging is offering a more sustainable version of its DRICARD products. DRICARD is a flat moisture absorber composed of calcium chloride desiccant laminated between film layers. The new, more sustainable version provides twice the capacity in the same size card, uses less plastic and requires 80% less ink.

Green rare-earth recycling goes commercial in the US

Researchers from the Critical Materials Institute, a U.S. Department of Energy Innovation Hub led by Ames Laboratory, developed a novel way to extract rare earth elements from high-powered magnets in electronic waste. TdVib LLC signed a license agreement for the technology with Iowa State University Research Foundation.