Ceramic and glass business news of the week for November 18, 2024

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

New Zealand’s first fusion reactor takes shape

Wellington-based OpenStar Technologies has powered Junior, a half-tonne doughnut-shaped magnet, using their patented flux pump technology, marking a significant step toward completing New Zealand’s first fusion energy device prototype.

Scottish Water launches £800M framework for ceramic membrane water treatment projects

Scottish Water is inviting contractors to bid on a major framework contract valued between £500 million and £800 million, aimed at advancing its ceramic membrane capital investment program. The framework, expected to appoint up to five contractors, will span from 2025 to 2033, with an option to extend until 2039.

Heineken invests in Brazilian glass recycling facility

The Heineken Group installed its first glass recycling center in Brazil. With an initial investment of R$8 million, the facility, already installed in Jaboatão dos Guararapes, in Greater Recife, will collect glass from all possible areas to increase the material’s collection nationwide.

Missouri company makes a big bet on cobalt

U.S. Strategic Metals has spent $265 million setting up operations in the Fredericktown area of Missouri to process cobalt leftover in tailings from the previous lead operation. The processing facility will be up and running in 2026.

Holcim Polska completes its first concrete 3D-printed water tank

Holcim Polska completed its first 3D-printed concrete drinking water tank in Barczewko, near Olsztyn, Poland. This project, which was achieved in collaboration with GLOBTANK, COBOD International, and the general contractor EKO-WOD Kętrzyn for the investor ZWiK Barczewo, was completed in just 38 hours.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

British Museum secures historic Chinese ceramics donation

The British Museum received a historic donation of 1,700 Chinese ceramics valued at around 1 billion pounds. Donated by the Percival David Foundation, this donation is the largest gift in the museum’s history.

ClearVue enters license agreement with My Glass Projects

ClearVue Technologies Ltd. entered into a license agreement with My Glass Projects Ltd. The latter is granted nonexclusive rights to manufacture and distribute products incorporating ClearVue’s advanced photovoltaic glazing technology into the U.K. market, as well as exclusive rights to combine its heated glass with ClearVue tech to create self-powered heated glass.

Viridion signs MOU with Lab Fab for rare earth magnet supply in Brazil

Viridion, a joint venture between Ionic Rare Earths and Viridis Mining and Minerals, signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with the owner of Lab Fab, South America’s first rare earth magnet laboratory. The memorandum will target the joint development and production of rare earth magnets at Lab Fab.

HT Materials Science and Tabreed win District Cooling Initiative of the Year

HT Materials Science received the District Cooling Initiative of the Year for a pilot study that used the company’s nanofluid additive at a Tabreed district-cooling plant in Abu Dhabi to achieve a 13.5% increase in cooling system efficiency. The additive is an engineered suspension of submicron aluminum oxide particles in a base fluid of water or water/glycol.

Dragonfly Energy and Bruker Partner to accelerate battery technology

Dragonfly Energy Holdings Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with Bruker to collaborate and significantly improve current and next-generation battery technology and battery materials. The partnership brings together Dragonfly Energy’s expertise in liquid and solid-state battery technology with Bruker’s comprehensive suite of analytical solutions.

OTHER STORIES

Glass Service: 17^th International Seminar on Furnace Design planned for June 2025

Every two years, Glass Service sponsors an educational furnace design seminar in the Czech Republic for the benefit of its customers. Next year, the seminar will take place June 18–19, 2025, in Velke Karlovice. It will focus on solutions for reducing CO2 emissions by 43% or more by the year 2030, in alignment with the Paris Climate agreement.

Glass Futures announces leadership transition

St. Helens-based Glass Futures has named Justin Kelly as its new chief executive, succeeding founding chief executive Richard Katz, who has been appointed president. A chartered engineer, Kelly brings nearly three decades of experience from Siemens, where he served on the executive management board.

American Concrete Institute publishes code requirements for low-carbon concrete

The American Concrete Institute, through the work of ACI Committee 323, released ACI CODE-323-24: Low-Carbon Concrete—Code Requirements and Commentary. The Code provides provisions for concrete where reduced global warming potential is required.

Biden-⁠Harris Administration announces framework to expand US nuclear energy

The Biden-Harris Administration is establishing domestic nuclear energy deployment targets as part of an ambitious, first-of-its-kind framework outlining actions that the U.S. government can take to safely and responsibly expand nuclear energy capacity in the country.

Funding opportunity announcement: Critical Materials Accelerator

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy issued a funding opportunity announcement for up to $10 million to accelerate early-stage technology research and development to reduce material criticality for energy innovations requiring critical materials.

MARKET TRENDS

India may introduce antidumping duties on PV glass from China and Vietnam

India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies proposed antidumping duties on solar glass imports from China and Vietnam. It says the landed cost of such imports are lower than the selling prices and production costs of Indian manufacturers.

NEW PRODUCTS

Separonics by Evove: ceramic 3D-printed filtration technology for lithium extraction

At Formnext 2024, Lithoz will showcase the pioneering lithium filtration technology from Evove, made possible by Lithoz’s market-leading ceramic 3D printing machines. The Separonics ceramic filter membranes are designed to reduce energy use by 80%, increase output fivefold, and recycle 80% more water.

New byko-visc CP cone and plate viscometers

BYK-Gardner USA announced their own product line of cone and plate viscometers. These new models will include both high-temperature and low-temperature units, each backed by Lite firmware options.