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  • Quino Energy co-founders Eugene Beh and Meisam Bahari.

    Building a better water-based battery

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 25, 2024

    Cheap and safe, water-based organic redox flow batteries are coming – an interview with Quino Energy's founder Eugene Beh. Quino Energy CEO and co-founder Eugene Beh is a chemist and physicist with an impressive history of accolades from Harvard to Stanford and back again and deep expertise in electrochemical systems, be it a postdoctoral fellowship working on aqueous organic flow batteries at Harvard University or inventing and commercializing a redox flow desalination t...

  • Rendering of a geophysical scanning micro-satellite over Earth.

    Graphite composite stabilizes maglev tech

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 25, 2024

    New material bridges anti-gravity tech and super-sensitive instruments. Flying cars and personal jetpacks notwithstanding, a new carbon-based material is bringing us closer to stable levitation technologies with no need for mechanical or electrical assists. Today's levitation uses electrically manipulated magnetic fields, superconductors or diamagnetic (magnetically repelled) materials to float above magnets. The primary use for this is in developing super-sensitive...

  • The original Beta Research team posing for picture in from of truck.

    Jump-starting a 50-year-old battery tech

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 25, 2024

    Inlyte Energy's endeavors to bring back sodium-metal-halide batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are today's most common energy storage technology, with uses large and small, ranging from smartphones and other electronic devices to electric cars and stationary. But science is far from resting on this standard – battery efficiency and durability are still in high demand. With sodium easier to source and exponentially cheaper than lithium, a redesigned sodium-metal-halide battery m...

  • Overhead view of the Karuizawa house surrounded by trees.

    Building green with CO2-absorbing concrete

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 25, 2024

    Japan's Kajima Corp. is well on its way to supplying the world with carbon-negative concrete. A little over an hour from Tokyo, nestled in the mountains near Nagano, a house has been built in Karuizawa with the world's first carbon dioxide-removing concrete walls produced by replacing a percentage of the cement content with an industrial byproduct and adding a CO2-absorbing admixture of dicalcium silicate. Karuizawa is one of Japan's oldest and most famous forested mountain re...

  • A gold plate labeled Umicore on a pile of gold nuggets.

    Unique recycled precious metals guarantee

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 25, 2024

    Belgian precious metals recycler Umicore unveils Nexyclus certifications, a green guarantee at every step of its process. Leveraging the might of its precious metals refining and jewelry and industrial metals capabilities, Umicore SA has launched Nexyclus to address resource scarcity and the increased demand for recycled, responsibly sourced and low-carbon metals. Based out of Belgium, Umicore is a multinational materials technology firm that was formed through the merger of...

  • 6K Energy’s PlusCAM will open late this year in Jackson, Tennessee.

    6K Energy targets IRA battery requirements

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 24, 2024

    Utilizing its UniMelt production system technology, company is at the forefront of domestic battery supply for a green future. Continuing to push the boundaries of sustainable production of critical materials for lithium-ion batteries, 6K Energy LLC announced their cathode active material (CAM) will meet stringent United States government mandates for compliance outlined by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the innovative company aims to be the first to meet such...

  • Illustration of Little Miss Muffet in front of e-waste with a bowl of gold.

    Gold's latest big cheese in urban mining

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 23, 2024
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    An efficient e-waste recycling process is made possible by whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking. Scientists in Switzerland have recovered high-purity gold through a scalable process using food scrap-derived sponges that efficiently adsorb the precious metal from tricky e-waste. The final result is 450 milligrams of 22-carat gold recovered from 20 discarded motherboards. Because the method utilizes industry byproducts, it is doubly sustainable and cost-effective as well. Gold...

  • Aerial photo of Founders Park at Purdue University.

    Purdue expands patent rights for ReElement

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 23, 2024

    Will now extend capability for all feedstocks including rare earth ores. Purdue University has expanded ReElement Technologies Corp.'s exclusive use of the patents for ligand assisted displacement (LAD) chromatography and knowhow for all feedstocks to now include rare earth ores. When ReElement first began to employ the unique technology developed at Purdue, its license covered critical minerals from recycled permanent magnets and lithium-ion batteries, and was capable of...

  • Fresh poured graphene concrete with a G printed on the corner.

    Premier Graphene reveals stronger concrete

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 23, 2024

    Advanced materials firm reports the successful integration of graphene into construction materials. Trailblazing the development of eco-friendly graphene and its integration into the production process of other products, Premier Graphene Inc. has announced the successful incorporation of graphene with construction materials, marking a groundbreaking leap forward in the construction and materials science industries. Founded in 2010, California-based Premier Graphene is a global...

  • Couple in hard hats in a cave with a carved stone car.

    OEMs move upstream in metals supply chain

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 23, 2024

    Car and battery manufacturers are getting in on the critical minerals mining business. There has been an increasing trend of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for electric vehicles, and the batteries that power them are moving upstream in the global metals supply chain to secure deals for their own feedstocks of critical minerals – entering into mineral offtake agreements directly with mining companies, investing in mining projects, and joint mining ventures. Until r...

  • Hydrogen symbol over a satellite view of North America at night.

    Is geological hydrogen dead or alive?

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 23, 2024

    With $20 million in DOE funding, MIT and 15 others are carrying out research that will open Schrödinger's box of potentially low-cost source of abundant green energy fuel. Hydrogen is the Schrödinger's Cat of clean energy fuels – it is both an abundant and affordable clean burning gas that fuels the dreams of a green energy future and a scarce element that comes with a carbon footprint that does not justify the cost to produce it. The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Res...

  • Perseverance Mars rover taking a selfie on Mars.

    Perseverance drills exciting Martian sample

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 18, 2024

    The 24th sample taken by the six-wheeled scientist offers new clues about Jezero Crater and the lake it may have once held. As of April 4, Perseverance has been active on Mars for 1,110 sols or three years, one month, and 17 days in Earth time since its landing. In that time, the lonely rover collected 24 samples, but the latest embodies exactly why NASA sent the six-wheeled scientist to the Red Planet. The mission of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is to focus on...

  • A high resolution photograph of Mars taken by NASA.

    NASA seeks solutions for Mars samples

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 16, 2024

    Space Agency finds costs and timeframe of previous plan too high, seeks public and private sector innovation to get samples to Earth. In response to Perseverance's successful sample collection efforts, a discussion on returning these samples of Martian geology and potential signs of life back to Earth has been revisited. During a teleconference held early this morning, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration outlined its recommendations regarding a path forward for t...

  • A barren landscape with a tree growing at its center,

    Regeneration and Cobalt Blue address waste

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 11, 2024

    Partnership addresses various options to create value in mining waste through remining and restoration. Regeneration Enterprises and Cobalt Blue have partnered up to tackle the growing inventory of legacy mine sites and waste. The partnership's projects are expected to transform these sites into ecological assets by producing much-needed green energy minerals through climate-positive means. The focus is on identifying new value in waste by remining and restoring sites,...

  • Rendering of bubbles with a floating hydrogen chemical symbol.

    DOE continues H2 funding with $750M

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 8, 2024

    The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy continues support of growing U.S. green hydrogen. The U.S. Department of Energy has announced a $750 million infusion into clean hydrogen to significantly reduce its cost, beat out China for global leadership in hydrogen, and develop American energy independence through expansion of the industry. Clean hydrogen adoption by some of the country's most energy-intensive and CO2-emitting sectors is an essential part of the green...

  • Wireframe of a cargo ship and plane with Wright batteries.

    Developing the Wright aluminum battery

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 8, 2024

    DOE bankrolls ultra-lightweight, energy-dense aluminum battery and novel artificial intelligence electrolyte screening system. A collaboration between Wright Electric and Columbia University has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy via the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program for a groundbreaking ultra-energy-dense and lightweight aluminum battery brought about by a novel artificial intelligence electrolyte screening system. Founded i...

  • A globe-shaped balloon centered over North America.

    American helium shortage at turning point

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 8, 2024

    Pulsar's timely discovery of a massive helium deposit in Minnesota may keep our medical scanners, rockets, and nuclear reactors going. Despite being the second most abundant gas in the universe, there is a definite helium shortage in America, risking the operation of everything from medical diagnostics to cooling nuclear reactors. But the U.S. might finally be in luck – a recently discovered reservoir in Minnesota boasts concentrations pushing 13.8%, the highest the i...

  • Blue-gloved hand holding a solar cell prototype.

    Selenium solar may hit 40% efficiency

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 8, 2024

    Researchers in Denmark are experimenting with a selenium–silicon tandem solar cell. While an increasingly common clean energy resource for individual homes and grid-scale production alike, solar cells are shockingly inefficient – at best capturing less than 30% of the energy from the sunlight that strikes them. Rasmus Nielsen and his team of physicists and engineers at the Technical University of Denmark have found a possible method to boost that efficiency to 40% by cre...

  • ABTC workers overlooking production at recycling facility.

    IRS grants $40M in tax credits to ABTC

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 5, 2024

    Evaluation conducted by DOE finds American Battery Technology Company prime candidate to build another recycling facility in U.S. Having earned an initial $20 million tax credit award under the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit, otherwise known as 48C, American Battery Technology Company has been selected for an additional $40.5 million to support the design and construction of a new, next-generation commercial battery recycling facility within the United States....

  • India's deep-sea exploration vehicle, the Matsya 6000

    China, Russia, India vie for sea minerals

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 5, 2024

    With the U.S. still out of undersea race to the bottom of international waters, India strives for greener way toward trillion-dollar resource. The United Nations International Seabed Authority (ISA) has approved 31 license applications for permission to explore international waters, with only two belonging to India from 2016. This is in comparison to China's five and Russia's four. Having never ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which led...

  • Example of GMG’s prototype graphene aluminum-ion battery.

    GMG secures A$2M funding to upgrade plant

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 3, 2024

    Queensland government offers grant to enable development of graphene aluminum-ion batteries. Recognizing the potential of homemade graphene, the government of Queensland has signed an A$2 million funding agreement with Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd. to support the company's proposed automated graphene aluminum-ion battery pilot plant in Brisbane, Australia. "We want to thank the Queensland Government and acknowledge its commitment to supporting the critical and battery manu...

  • Professors Ukar and Larson in front of a University of Texas building.

    Squeezing hydrogen out of iron-rich rocks

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 2, 2024

    University of Texas researchers are exploring the potential to catalyze geological hydrogen with nickel or PGMs. Hydrogen is a highly combustible gas that only emits water into the atmosphere when it is burned, making it an ideal fuel for the clean energy future. This green fuel, however, has the paradoxical distinction of being the most abundant element in the universe but extremely scarce in its pure form here on Earth. Hydrogen's abundance enigma that stems from the gas'...

  • Detail view of battery renderings in blue.

    QuantumScape ships Alpha-2 prototypes

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 30, 2024

    On track for key goal in 2024, headed steadily onward in aims for 2025. Nextgen solid-state battery tech leader QuantumScape has started customer shipments of its Alpha-2 prototype battery cells, on target for its 2024 goal. Toward achieving its mission to transform energy storage with solid-state lithium-metal battery technology, the company began shipping its A0 prototypes to potential automotive customers for qualification at the end of 2022. The company's new Alpha-2...

  • Rendering of an astronaut holding a battery.

    Space battery pioneer gets first big order

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 27, 2024

    Hitachi Zosen goes commercial; company sends its all-solid-state batteries into equipment manufacturing space. An as-of-yet undisclosed semiconductor equipment manufacturer has placed the first commercial order for 12 all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries (coined AS-LiB) with a capacity of 140 milliampere-hour from battery pioneer Hitachi Zosen, with future orders on the way as part of a new product. A typical all-solid-state lithium battery can not only store nearly twice as...

  • An array of solar panels beneath a bright blue sky.

    Spain's largest solar redox flow battery

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 27, 2024

    The Son Orlandis system is the first vanadium redox flow-based energy storage plant to be built by Endesa; the largest to be paired with solar in Europe. Spanish utility Endesa Enel Green Power España (the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal) has commissioned an energy storage system utilizing a 1.1-megawatt vanadium redox flow battery (VFRB) connected to the 3.34 MW Son Orlandis solar plant in Mallorca, Spain. In 2023, the Balearic...

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