Despite the growth in metals supply over the last decade, BloombergNEF’s (BNEF’s) annual Transition Metals Outlook finds that there are still not enough raw materials to meet growing demand. This supply squeeze could slow the adoption of clean energy technologies. In order to meet the demands of a net-zero emissions... Read more →

Li-Cycle Holdings entered into an agreement with Glencore covering the off-take of 100% of the mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) to be produced at Li-Cycle’s Rochester Hub. By amending and restating certain of its existing commercial agreements with Glencore and Traxys North America, Li-Cycle has established the commercial framework for the... Read more →

Rio Tinto’s previously announced acquisition of Sumitomo Chemical Company’s (SCC’s) 20.64% interest in New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) was completed on 1 November 2024. NZAS owns and operates the Tiwai Point aluminum smelter in New Zealand, which produces more than 335,000 tonnes of the world’s purest aluminum using electricity from... Read more →

USC researchers have developed a new process to upcycle the composite materials appearing in automobile panels and light rail vehicles, addressing a current environmental challenge in the transportation and energy sectors. The study recently appeared in the Journal of American Chemical Society. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to... Read more →

Luxembourg-based OCSiAl opened its first European production facility in Serbia. The new facility is dedicated to producing TUBALL nanotubes and nanotube-based products. The Serbia facility employs a modular design that enables rapid scalability, allowing OCSiAl to set up and launch new synthesis units within two years at any location. This... Read more →

Ioneer Ltd received its federal permit for the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). With the positive decision, Rhyolite Ridge becomes the first US lithium project approved by the Biden Administration as part of its efforts to accelerate domestic critical mineral production and advances the... Read more →

The US Department of the Treasury and the IRS released final rules for the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit (Section 45X of the Internal Revenue Code), to spur continued growth of US clean energy manufacturing. The Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit helps to level the playing field for US companies to onshore... Read more →

Eramet announced the buy-back of all Tsingshan Group’s minority interest (49.9%) in Eramine Sudamerica for a net cash impact of $699 million. Eramet now owns again 100% of its Argentinian subsidiary. Following the successful operation of a pilot plant on site since end-2019, Eramet engaged construction of Centenario’s first lithium... Read more →

Greensteel Australia and global steelmaking technology leader Danieli will work together to build a 600,000-tonne-per-year rolling mill that will be powered entirely by green hydrogen. The first-of-its-kind green steel facility is to be located in New South Wales, Australia. Danieli, an Italian-based metal processer and supplier, will partner with Greensteel... Read more →

ABB is partnering with ArcelorMittal to introduce XCarb steel made with high levels of recycled steel and 100% renewable energy for its Kabeldon power distribution system. The sustainable sourcing agreement helps reduce the carbon footprint of key electrification equipment by 29%. With the use of XCarb steel, the team behind... Read more →

Using a combination of water testing and machine learning, a US Geological Survey-led study estimated between 5 and 19 million tons of lithium reserves are located beneath southwestern Arkansas. If commercially recoverable, the amount of lithium present would meet projected 2030 world demand for lithium in car batteries nine times... Read more →

Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) received a grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office. Bridgestone will design, build and operate a pilot plant that will advance an innovative, potentially more sustainable and cost-effective approach to obtaining butadiene from ethanol. The project will evaluate the economic and... Read more →

At the International Suppliers Fair (IZB) in Wolfsburg, Germany, Volkswagen Group and thyssenkrupp Steel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the planned supply to Volkswagen Group of low-carbon steel from thyssenkrupp Steel’s future direct reduction plant. thyssenkrupp Steel’s direct reduction plant, which is scheduled to go into operation in... Read more →

The US Department of Commerce and Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC) signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) to provide up to $325 million in proposed direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to solidify US leadership in semiconductor-grade polysilicon production. The proposed funding would support the construction of a... Read more →

South Korean Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, along with the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, the First Vice Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy visited POSCO’s Pohang Steelworks on 17 October to discuss measures for boosting investment and toured around the proposed site for hydrogen-based steelmaking and the operations at... Read more →

Stegra—which renamed itself from H2 Green Steel in September—is partnering with John Laing and Aquatech to provide sustainable water treatment plant to the world’s first large-scale green steel plant. John Laing is a leading international investor and active manager of core infrastructure assets and Aquatech is a leading provider of... Read more →

thyssenkrupp sold the Indian company thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel India Private Ltd. to JSW Steel Limited and JFE Steel Corporation. The Indian-Japanese consortium is acquiring the Indian electrical steel business of thyssenkrupp for a purchase price of around €440 million. thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel India is part of the Electrical Steel business... Read more →

Advent Technologies announced significant performance breakthroughs for its Membrane Electrode Assembly (Advent MEA G2) technology. The Advent MEA G2 technology has already been provided for testing to select strategic partners, in the automotive and aerospace industries. It is being developed within the framework of L’Innovator, the company’s joint development program... Read more →

Lithium Americas Corp., the Canada-based developer of the Thacker Pass lithium mining project in northern Nevada, and General Motors Holdings LLC entered into a new investment agreement to establish a joint venture for the purpose of funding, developing, constructing and operating Thacker Pass. The JV Transaction will deliver $625 million... Read more →

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment for a direct loan of up to $670.6 million to Aspen Aerogels Georgia, LLC (Aspen Aerogels). The loan, if finalized, will help finance the construction of an aerogel blanket manufacturing facility in Register, Georgia. Aspen’s PyroThin aerogel... Read more →

For next-generation power electronics, BASF has developed a polyphthalamide (PPA) that is especially suited for manufacturing housings of IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor) semi-conductors. Ultramid Advanced N3U41 G6 addresses the growing demand for high-performance, reliable electronic components for e.g., electric vehicles, high-speed trains, smart manufacturing and the generation of renewable energy.... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the City of Duluth and its local development partners will receive DOE support to develop hydrogen and renewable energy systems, as well as a clean energy workforce, to enable the deployment of a green iron plant in the region. Minnesota is the... Read more →

Rio Tinto and Arcadium Lithium announced a definitive agreement under which Rio Tinto will acquire Arcadium in an all-cash transaction for US$5.85 per share. (Earlier post.) The transaction represents a premium of 90% to Arcadium’s closing price of $3.08 per share on 4 October 2024, a premium of 39% to... Read more →

SiAT, a leading Taiwanese manufacturer of advanced nanomaterials for batteries, and CSAC, the largest Taiwanese aluminum producer, released the latest test results for their joint CNT-coated aluminum foil (CCAF) during a speaker session at the Battery Show Detroit on 8 October. Launched in February, the CCAF is designed to meet... Read more →

Integrals Power reports a breakthrough in Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate (LMFP) cathode active materials for battery cells. Applying its propriety materials technology and patented manufacturing process, the company has overcome the drop in specific capacity compared that typically occurs as the percentage of manganese in increased. The result is cathode... Read more →

Rio Tinto confirmed that it has made an approach to Arcadium Lithium—a newly formed company from the merger of Allkem and Livent—regarding a potential acquisition of Arcadium Lithium by Rio Tinto. The approach is non-binding and there is no certainty that any transaction will be agreed to or will proceed.... Read more →

By fusing together a pair of contorted molecular structures, Cornell researchers createda porous crystal that can uptake lithium-ion electrolytes and transport them smoothly via one-dimensional nanochannels—a design that could lead to safer solid-state lithium-ion batteries. A paper on the work is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.... Read more →

24M recently released new testing results for its transformative battery separator—Impervio—that addresses the growing concern of battery safety for electric vehicles (EV), energy storage systems (ESS) and consumer applications (earlier post). The new data coincides with mounting concerns after recent battery fires in the United States and internationally. Impervio, announced... Read more →

OCSiAl has launched a single wall carbon nanotube dispersion facility in Serbia. This move enhances ProLogium’s European supply chain and supports the mass adoption of electric vehicles via the production of advanced lithium ceramic batteries in France. With an annual capacity of 3,000 MT of nanotube dispersion, OCSiAl’s facility will... Read more →

Pure Lithium, a vertically integrated lithium-metal battery technology company, acquired all the assets of Dimien Inc., a private US vanadium cathode materials company. Pure Lithium acquired Dimien’s intellectual property, know-how, manufacturing equipment and took on its experienced team, accelerating the development of Pure Lithium’s lithium metal vanadium (LVO) battery. Dimien... Read more →

LG Chem announced that its Platform Technology R&D team has developed a temperature-responsive Safety Reinforced Layer (SRL), a material designed to suppress thermal runaway. In collaboration with Professor Lee Minah’s team from the Department of Battery Engineering at POSTECH, the material was analyzed, while safety verification was conducted in partnership... Read more →

Rare Element Resources announced that the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) has issued the second and final Project Continuation Notice following its approval of the operations budget and confirmation of readiness for the operations phase of the company’s rare earth processing and separation... Read more →

Researchers at George Washington University led by Prof. Stuart Licht have been working for years on developing and evolving a process for the high-yield, low-energy synthesis of oxygen and graphene nanocarbons (GNCs), such as carbon nanotubes, by the electrolysis of CO2 in molten carbonate (Li2CO3). (E.g., earlier post) A 11,000... Read more →

Altilium, a UK-based clean technology group focused on supporting the transition to net zero, announced a project to produce and validate EV battery cells using materials recovered from end-of-life EV batteries. In a first for the UK, the project will demonstrate battery cells produced with recovered cathode active materials (CAM)... Read more →

Constellium is partnering with Tesem, a global leader in luxury packaging, to advance sustainable aluminum production through an initiative called “Closing the Loop.” This collaboration underscores Constellium’s dedication to reducing environmental impact and promoting circular economy practices. Through this partnership, Constellium will work closely with Tesem to create a closed-loop... Read more →

Piersica has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Programs Phase II award for $1 million. The NSF grant is designed to support the research and development of a new class of highly conductive solid polymer separator membranes compatible with high-voltage cathodes.... Read more →

Commercial operations of Hydro’s advanced scrap sorting technology have started at PADNOS’s sorting hub in Grandville, Michigan. Only ten months ago, Norwegian aluminum and renewable energy company Hydro partnered with scrap management enterprise PADNOS to create Alusort LLC. Alusort is owned fifty-fifty by Hydro and PADNOS, and is located to... Read more →

Hyundai Motor and Kia launched a project to develop lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cathode material. In collaboration with Hyundai Steel and EcoPro BM, a leader in the cathode material market, this venture aims to synthesize materials directly without creating a precursor for LFP battery cathode material production. The Korean... Read more →

LG Chem will supply cathode active materials (CAM) to Prime Planet Energy & Solutions (PPES), a Japanese joint venture of Toyota Motor Corporation and Panasonic Corporation. PPES, a pivotal EV battery manufacturer based in Japan, has been supplying batteries to numerous global OEMs including Toyota. As part of its global... Read more →

NanoGraf, an advanced silicon anode battery material company enabling stronger, lighter, and longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries, has been awarded a $60-million grant from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) to retrofit an existing manufacturing facility in Flint, Michigan. At full capacity, the advanced production... Read more →

Forge Battery, the commercial lithium-ion battery production subsidiary of Forge Nano, has been selected for award negotiations of up to $100 million in non-dilutive funding by the Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) to expand Forge’s North Carolina lithium-ion battery gigafactory production capacity to 3... Read more →

Group14 Technologies, a developer of advanced silicon battery materials, has been selected for an award negotiation of up to $200 million by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) as part of the second set of projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law... Read more →

Solid Power, a developer of solid-state battery technology, was selected by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) to begin award negotiations for up to $50 million in federal funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. With this project, Solid Power intends to install... Read more →

Urbix, a US-based developer of graphite processing technology, has been selected by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) for final negotiations for an award of up to $125 million towards the construction of a commercial-scale graphite processing facility utilizing its proprietary methods... Read more →

Sila Nanotechnologies, a next-generation battery materials company, announced a multi-year supply agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of REC Silicon ASA, a supplier of solar-grade silicon and silicon materials. Under the terms of the agreement, REC will supply Sila with high-quality, US-produced silane for use in the production of Sila's... Read more →

A new report by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) finds that only four of the 17 major automakers selling vehicles in Europe and North America have committed to start using any fossil-free steel by 2030. The commitments total an estimated 2% of the global steel used by all... Read more →

Group14 Technologies, the world’s largest global manufacturer and supplier of advanced silicon battery materials, is shipping its SCC55 material, produced from an EV-scale joint venture (JV) factory based in Sangju, South Korea. Group14 has completed shipments to more than 100 electric vehicle (EV) and consumer electronics (CE) battery manufacturing customers... Read more →

24M unveiled new testing data for Impervio, its battery separator that addresses the growing concern of battery safety for electric vehicles (EV), energy storage systems (ESS) and consumer applications. The new data coincides with mounting concerns after recent battery fires in the United States and internationally. Impervio, announced in January... Read more →

Research by AI-powered supply chain risk platform Infyos has identified that companies accounting for 75% of the global battery market have connections to one or more companies in the supply chain facing allegations of severe human rights abuses. Most major battery manufacturers and end batteries applications are exposed including many... Read more →

Berzelius, a developer and manufacturer of silicon anodes, unveiled high-capacity pure silicon anodes with zero graphite. These anodes enable battery cells to achieve an impressive energy density of 400 Wh/kg while maintaining exceptional power capabilities. This was made possible through the integration of OCSiAl’s single wall carbon nanotubes, resulting in... Read more →