Ceramic and glass business news of the week for February 1, 2021

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Johns Manville launches €10 million waste glass fiber recycling line

Johns Manville launched a thermal recycling unit for waste glass fibers in its engineered products plant in Trnava, Slovakia. The Trnava unit has a projected recycling capacity of more than 3 tons per hour and consists of a warehousing area, feeding and transportation equipment, shredder, burning chamber, and milling.

More than 800 MW of floating PV under development in Greece

Greek conglomerate Gek Terna unveiled plans to deploy three large-scale floating photovoltaic plants with a combined capacity of 265 MW at three different water reservoirs. Total investment is expected to amount to €170 million. Additionally, the national utility PPC is planning to deploy another 50 MW and InterPhoton Group is considering a 500 MW facility.

Hull proposed for Europe’s first rare earths processing plant

Europe’s first rare earth processing plant to supply the booming offshore wind industry could be built in Kingston upon Hull, a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Pensana Rare Earths submitted a planning application for the $125 million facility, which would create 100 direct jobs.

Completion of new production and welfare buildings at Okayama Murata Manufacturing

Construction of a new production building for Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.’s production subsidiary Okayama Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was initiated in December 2019 and was just recently completed. Completion of the new production building creates infrastructure that allows Murata to respond to mid- to long-term demand increases for ceramic parts.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

WD Lab Grown Diamonds acquires J2 Materials

M7D Corporation d/b/a WD Lab Grown Diamonds, a U.S. producer of laboratory grown diamonds, announced that it completed the strategic acquisition of J2 Materials, a pioneering crystal growth technology company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Fosbel announces the acquisition of Wahl Refractory Solutions

Fosbel announced the acquisition of Wahl Refractory Solutions, LLC., a manufacturer and supplier to the steel, aluminium, cement, and thermoprocessing industries since 1921. Wahl will now conduct business under the name Wahl Refractory Solutions, a Fosbel Company.

Lightsource BP acquires 1GW Spanish PV pipeline

Lightsource BP acquired a 1,000 MW solar photovoltaic project portfolio distributed across Spain from developer RIC Energy. The companies will work together to develop the 14 sites across Madrid, Andalucia, and Castilla y Leon. First projects should be construction-ready by end of 2021, with installations expected to enter operation in stages from 2022 to 2025.

Iberdrola signs PPA for Europe’s largest solar PV plant

Spanish multinational energy company Iberdrola signed a power purchase agreement with Danone for the creation of what it claims will be Europe’s largest solar photovoltaic plant. The initiative consolidates Danone’s long-term renewable strategy and means 100% of the renewable electricity used in its plants/factories in Spain will come from this project.

CBAK Energy partners with JAC Motors to develop new battery cells, including 4680 format

CBAK Energy Technology, a lithium-ion battery manufacturer and electric energy solution provider, signed a three-year strategic agreement with Anhui Jianghuai Motors Group Co., Ltd, a Chinese state-owned automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer, for joint product development and implementation of the new batteries in future electric vehicles.

Armada Power and NRTC announce partnership

Armada Power, an industry leader in the delivery of highly secure, scalable, and noninvasive demand management technology, entered a partnership agreement with NRTC to extend innovative energy-efficient technology to rural America.

Philippines set sights on hydrogen to diversify energy sources

The Philippine Department of Energy signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia-based research and development firm Star Scientific Ltd to explore the potential of hydrogen as an energy source in the country.

OTHER STORIES

Thermcraft celebrates its 50^th anniversary

Thermcraft was born in January 1971, in a small warehouse space in downtown Winston Salem, N.C. Now, Thermcraft is a leading international manufacturer of thermal processing equipment, offering industrial and laboratory furnaces, ovens, high-temperature heating elements, insulation, and replacement parts.

AE Aerospace trials 5G to transform productivity

In an announcement made by AE Aerospace, the small and medium-sized enterprise became the first in the United Kingdom to deploy a 5G private network in collaboration with WM5G, W5G, and BT to transform manufacturing productivity.

Schott plans record €350 million investments this year

Speciality glass manufacturer Schott is planning to invest a record €350 million this fiscal year, which is an increase on last year’s record amount of €320 million. Plans include a new melting unit for pharmaceutical glass and the expansion of thin glass production. International focal points include expansion of capacities in China, Switzerland, Hungary, and the U.S.

ExOne joins the Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association as a founding member

The ExOne Company, a global leader in industrial sand and metal 3D printers using binder jetting technology, joined the Additive Manufacturer Green Trade Association as a founding member. The association promotes the environmental benefits of additive manufacturing in a variety of ways, including through rigorous and independent ongoing research.

Oxford Instruments Asylum Research joins MIT.nano Consortium

Oxford Instruments Asylum Research joined as a member of the MIT.nano Consortium. The MIT.nano Consortium was founded in 2019 to foster corporate partnerships with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wherein member companies provide financial support, industrial insights, research support, and scientific collaboration.

Lux Research names the top energy startups of 2020

Based on interviews with key startups in the energy space, Lux analysts have published a list of the top 20 startups in 2020. These startups have been evaluated by Lux’s technology experts on their technology, business strategy, leadership, and market positioning.

DENSO Products and Services Americas names operations director

DENSO Products and Services Americas, Inc., an affiliate of leading global automotive supplier DENSO Corp., named Joseph Wright as its new director of Americas Operations. Wright is responsible for overseeing all DENSO shipping and receiving operations across North America, including DENSO’s warehouse and distribution centers in California and Indiana.

PCL Ceramics launches free online game

PCL Ceramics, a leader in pressure casting technology, launched a free online game on its new website. The aim of the game is to get the cast items into the correct boxes. Scores can be submitted for the chance of winning a special prize.

Biden orders government to make all federal vehicles electric

U.S. President Joe Biden committed to replacing the entire federal fleet of vehicles with electric ones manufactured in the United States. It is a massive undertaking. In 2019, the federal fleet was made up of more than 645,000 vehicles, including 224,000 passenger cars and more than 412,000 trucks—including hundreds of thousands of Post Office vehicles alone.

MARKET TRENDS

History made: Renewable energy surpassed fossil fuels for European electricity in 2020

Europeans got more of their electricity from renewable sources than fossil fuels for the first time last year, according to an annual report from Ember and Agora Energiewende. The report, which has been tracking the EU’s power sector since 2015, found that renewables delivered 38% of electricity last year, compared to 37% delivered by fossil fuels.

Chipmaking is being redesigned—effects will be far-reaching

An article by The Economist outlines the state of the booming chipmaking industry. The market capitalization of the world’s listed semiconductor firms now exceeds $4 trillion, four times what they were worth five years ago.

Graphene: Increased market penetration by 2025

Researchers at The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research in Germany published two papers that roadmap the expected future mass introduction of graphene and related materials in the market.

Top clean energy technology trends for 2021

Research firm IHS Markit published a new report revealing the top clean energy technology trends to look out for in 2021. The report includes the expectation that renewable energy installations will rebound by double-digits after the COVID-19 pandemic and solar energy installations to grow by 30%.

NEW PRODUCTS

REVERSE wheel for laminated glass grinding

The Tyrolit REVERSE wheel for laminated glass grinding features different slots angled in opposite directions that are designed to break plastic waste into small fragments that can be easily extracted from the grinding area.