The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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Metal 3D printing tech developed for fusion energy gains popularity. Metal 3D printing company Seurat Technologies has received orders for 25 tons of metal printed parts. In addition to surpassing the capacity of its pilot facility, the company says this level of interest demonstrates a historic shift for a metal printing technology born from the quest for fusion energy. Founded in 2015, Seurat Technologies was the product of the development of a new kind of metal 3D printing...
The White House's bold clean energy ambitions, which are intricately linked to the availability of reliable supplies of the metals needed to build electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure, are being slowed by a tug-o-war between departments within the Biden administration. While the departments of Commerce, Defense, and Energy are forging ahead with programs and investments aimed at ensuring America has the minerals and metals needed to support the clean energy...
Following the current trend of carbon emission mitigation, researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are endeavoring to subvert gaseous carbon dioxide by turning it into stone that cannot enter the atmosphere and warm our planet more. "As global temperatures increase, so does the urgency to find ways to store carbon," said Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Lab Fellow Kevin Rosso, who co-authored a scientific article on converting CO2 to carbon minerals. "By...
From its X-MAT subsidiary that turns coal into clean and efficient building materials to its X-BATT subsidiary that recycles spent lithium into new batteries, Semplastics has made a name for itself by reimagining waste streams as useful products. Now, this Florida-based company has added to its ranks an approach that benefits everything across the board. DioQuest, the latest Semplastics enterprise, will employ a patent-pending process aimed at sequestering carbon dioxide and...
Branching into the edge field of quantum computing, Volkswagen Group has partnered with Canadian quantum technology company Xanadu to answer a single question: can quantum computers help design batteries? As the known world and its elemental makeup have been thoroughly dissected, humanity has reached the point where it is slightly cumbersome to discover new ways to utilize the elements on the periodic table. Existing classical methods have been the cornerstone of...
To help spur the introduction of metal 3D printing, metal filament manufacturer The Virtual Foundry introduced a new method of debinding and sintering printed components – with a microwave. Still in a developmental stage, Virtual Foundry's Metal Microwave Sintering technology is among the first of its kind involving the use of a commercial microwave instead of a kiln or furnace to heat prints inside of a crucible. Though only tested on the company's own Aluminum 6061 F...
Much like lead can protect even Superman from the effects of kryptonite, researchers at Drexel University's College of Engineering may have engineered a vanadium-based MXene shield that could render electronic devices impermeable to electromagnetic waves, essentially protecting them from the multitude of frequencies whizzing about our heads every day. Buzzing, feedback or static are some of the most noticeable manifestations of electromagnetic interference. This is...
RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc. announced it has successfully closed the lithium-ion battery supply chain loop with its patented recycling and upcycling process. Closed-loop battery recycling is a method of recycling that aims to re-use all materials from an original discharged battery and re-purpose them into a new version of the same battery. This method also represents an important shift from a linear economy to a circular economy. Using the company's battery-ready...
Looking beyond the carbon dioxide emitted from tailpipes, Toyota Motor Corp. is investigating hydrogen as a cleaner and tastier fuel for the stoves and ovens that cook the food for millions of households around the globe. Teaming up with Rinnai, a Japanese manufacturer of gas appliances, Toyota plans to demonstrate the potential advantages of hydrogen-fueled cooking and home heating in Woven City – a living laboratory that Toyota's human-centered mobility and technology subsid...
Australian tech company brings satellite printing in-house Fleet Space Technologies has taken another large step on its path to leveraging the unique abilities of metal 3D printers to manufacture a constellation of 288 low-Earth-orbit satellites that can deliver secure planet-wide coverage for millions of industrial internet of things devices. This new phase for the Australian satellite technologies company is the installation of a new 3D Systems DMP Flex 350 metal 3D...
Playing the long game, General Motors Co. announced a strategic investment with Quebec-based Lithion Recycling Inc. to support the automaker's pursuit of an eventual circular battery ecosystem using Lithion's advanced battery recycling technology. Touting a battery recovery rate of over 95% and utilizing the clean and green infrastructure already established in Quebec, Lithion's operations will supply GM with recycled materials that have little environmental impact – s...
Researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and University of Washington have dicovered a simple way to extract what could be considered one of the most critical minerals to the United States and European Union, magnesium. Since ancient times, Mankind has extracted salts from the ocean. While table salt is the easiest to obtain, seawater is a rich source of different minerals, and scientists have long been exploring the possibility of isolating specific...
Rio Tino to supply low-carbon metals, Volvo offers low-emissions trucks Global mining giant Rio Tinto and European automaker Volvo Group have agreed to forge a partnership that will help both companies achieve their climate ambitions. "We look forward to partnering with Volvo to progress our contribution to a net-zero future, as we collaborate to deliver sustainable outcomes from the mine to the showroom floor," said Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm. Under a...
Zentek Ltd., the company that has been advancing its ZenGuard technology of antimicrobial graphene surface coatings, has placed its latest innovation – icephobic coatings – under rigorous testing with sand and rain erosion assessments, demonstrating that the technology is durable in adverse conditions for both turbine and drone industries. As a mining company that began its technology journey amid the COVID-19 pandemic to develop solutions to prevent the spread of the vir...
The U.S. Department of Energy announced $156 million in funding for a first-of-a-kind facility to extract and separate rare earth elements and critical minerals from unconventional sources like mining waste. As rare earths and other critical minerals are key to manufacturing clean energy technologies here in America – such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells – industries from all ends of the supply chain have been seeking to fulfill the...
Building on a full year of industry deployment and testing, Minerva Intelligence Inc. has revamped its previously released DRIVER software, to improve its functionality and user experience, and ultimately improve the overall capabilities of this artificial intelligence-powered mineral exploration system. "We are thrilled to be able to release the updated version of the DRIVER software pushing the boundaries of web and cloud-based 3D artificial intelligence modelling...
The Inflation Reduction Act aims to lower energy bills for U.S. consumers, among many other financial and climate benefits. Nuclear energy is among the benefactors of this landmark legislation. According to the Office of Nuclear Energy, the law entails a production tax credit to help preserve the existing fleet of nuclear plants. "This is a huge priority for our office," the federal nuclear office penned in a statement. The zero-emission nuclear power production credit...
Researchers at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology School of Engineering have found that disposable personal protective equipment can be used as reinforcement materials in making structural concrete. Their studies, which followed earlier work on the recycling of used rubber tires, demonstrated that using shredded PPE – discarded isolation gowns, masks, and nitrile gloves – could increase the strength of concrete by 22% and improve its resistance to cracking. The RMIT tea...
As the development of smaller electronics continues, the ability to manufacture various gadgets and gizmos into portable and even wearable designs has become the norm. Yet, a bottleneck has arisen from the limitations of the materials – they do not function as well on a micro-scale. However, researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology have utilized a nanomaterial that capitalizes on its unique makeup and allows the conductive material to show its stuff, graphene i...
Researchers from the University of Manchester might have to adopt a new title: alchemists, as they may have discovered the 21st-century version of the philosopher's stone. But unlike the mystical substance of old, the modern golden transformation is thanks to a microscopically thin material that has been growing in popularity due to its miracle-like properties – graphene. "Graphene turns rubbish into gold, literally," said Andre Geim, a professor from the University of M...
As part of the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Biden earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy is seeking input to help guide the future implementation of $335 million in investments for lithium-ion battery recycling programs. "Battery recycling doesn't just remove harmful waste from our environment, it also strengthens domestic manufacturing by placing used materials back into the supply chain," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer...
RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc., in partnership with Kemetco Research Inc., has announced over 99% lithium recovery from its lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cathode materials process during bench-scale tests. Since 2016, RecycLiCo has facilitated up to 100% extraction of valuable battery materials from nickel-rich, manganese-rich, cobalt-rich, and now LFP cathode chemistries. As all these battery chemistries contain lithium, which has seen a more than 350% increase in pr...
Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have discovered the potential of using the super material graphene to develop synaptic transistors for brain-like computers. For most traditional computing devices, silicon remains the gold standard. However, there have long been attempts to use more flexible, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly materials for transistors. Computers that function like the human brain are inching closer to mainstream adoption, yet...
Food, water, breathable air, shelter, and clothing – these fundamental elements of human survival here on Earth will be even more critical for early Mars colonists. With delivery fees measured in millions of dollars and wait times for rush orders being at least six months, Red Planet pioneers are going to need to be able to produce their own survival goods. Researchers at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia are developing a process that co-produces two of t...
NASA's eighth annual Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge invites university students to design a metal production pipeline – from extracting metal from minerals to creating structures and tools – for the Moon. "Here at home, forging metal has long been a key part of building our homes and infrastructure, and the same holds true as we work towards a sustained presence on the Moon," said Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation within NAS...
