New British standard for domestic and hospitality ceramic tableware

Lucideon, the international materials and technology company, has released a new guidance document ‘Introduction to BS 8654:2015, Domestic and Hospitality Use Ceramic Tableware Articles Intended for Contact with Foodstuffs – Specification’. The guidance document has been prepared to help industry members better understand the new standard released by BSi and prepared by a team of ceramic tableware experts from Lucideon.

PPG Wichita Falls flat glass plant saves water through reuse program

PPG Industries announced that a joint wastewater-reuse project with the city of Wichita Falls, Texas, has cut fresh water consumption by as much as 50% per day at the company’s glass manufacturing plant there. The $1.9 million project, which diverts treated wastewater to the plant’s glass-cooling towers, came online in February in the midst of a historic drought that had left the city’s water reservoirs at less than 20% of capacity.

Sigma Corp. unveils world’s first ceramic-glass filter for DSLR camera lenses

Sigma Corp. has announced the world’s first highly shock-resistant and scratch-resistant clear glass ceramic protective camera lens filter, the WR Ceramic Protector. A video on Sigma’s website shows the strength of new glass protective filter—the world’s first clear ceramic filter for DSLR camera lenses.

Corning and Duke Energy strike 25-year solar energy pact

Corning Inc. has entered into a 25-year power purchase agreement for solar-generated electricity produced by Duke Energy Renewables. Corning will purchase 62.5% of the expected output of the facility, estimated to be 120,300 megawatt hours per year, beginning in the first quarter of 2016. That amount of electricity is equivalent to the annual power used by approximately 10,000 U.S. homes.

Dow, DuPont set $130B megamerger, could spark more deals

Chemical titans DuPont and Dow Chemical Co. have agreed to combine in an all-stock merger valued at $130 billion in a first step toward breaking up into three separate businesses, a move that pleased activist investors and could trigger more consolidation. The “deal of three centuries,” as Wells Fargo analyst Frank Mitsch dubbed it, combines two of the biggest and oldest U.S. chemical producers and will generate cost and tax savings.

Hitachi and Tohoku University develop basic technology solid-state lithium-ion

Hitachi Ltd. and Tohoku University’s Advanced Institute for Materials Research have developed a basic technology to reduce the internal resistance of the all-solid-state lithium ion battery using a complex hydride as a solid electrolyte. Since this technology does not require the cooling system common in conventional Li-ion batteries, it is expected to lead to further developments of compact battery systems and reduce overall costs.

Schott Gemtron cuts 1.2M pounds of CO2 emissions with new lighting

Schott is contributing to a better environment with better lighting: New high-efficiency lighting installed at the Gemtron manufacturing plant in Sweetwater, Tenn., will reduce the plant’s energy consumption by more than one million kilowatt hours per year and prevent 1.2 million pounds of CO2 emissions.

Air Products’ Materials Technologies to increase prices for electronics offerings

Air Products’ Materials Technologies segment announced that, effective immediately or as contracts permit, it will increase prices globally for process materials and advanced materials supplied by its Electronics business. These price increases are necessary to recover increasing raw materials and production costs and continue supply reliability, quality improvements, and R&D activities to support reinvestment to meet global market needs.

Author

April Gocha