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In a new study published in Materials Today Energy, the researchers have shown that they can use CO₂ and solar thermal energy to produce high yields of millimeter-length carbon nanotube (CNT) wool at a cost of just $660 per ton. The market value of long CNTs like these—which can be woven into textiles to make metals, cement replacements, and other materials—is currently $100,000-$400,000 per ton.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-co2-emissions-worth-millions.html#jCp

#Tesla has built the world’s current largest battery, which came online in #California in December, #Musk said, adding that the South #Australian battery would be 100 megawatts — enough to power 30,000 homes.

Read more at: https://japantoday.com/category/tech/elon-musk%27s-tesla-to-build-world%27s-largest-battery-in-australia

The winners from the rise of electric vehicles are likely to be the traditional industrial metals.

That’s the best explanation for why miners are sticking for the most part with the same suite of commodities they’ve been digging up for the past few decades. Even if electric-vehicle sales surged to 41 million in 2040 from the about 800,000 expected in 2018, the biggest winners in volume and price terms would probably be boring old exchange-traded aluminum, copper and nickel, according to a report by Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eily Ong.

Read more at: https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-07-06/elon-musk-won-t-save-big-mining#footnote-1499253653938

The plant’s production costs are too high for it to be profitable and the outlook is poor.

Last November, Vale said a $US200 million loan from the #French state had reduced the risk of it shutting its multi-billion dollar plant.

The funding offer was announced by the French prime minister #Manuel Valls to help shore up the territory’s economy which is reliant on #Nickel production.

One report said Vale New Caledonia used $US1.3 billion in the past three years and has to be shut down.

Read more at: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/334444/vale-new-caledonia-faces-review-possible-mothballing

#Chinese companies have plans for additional factories with the capacity to pump out more than 120 gigawatt-hours a year by 2021, according to a report  published this week by #Bloomberg Intelligence. That’s enough to supply batteries for around 1.5 million #Tesla Model S vehicles or 13.7 million #Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrids per year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Read more at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-28/china-is-about-to-bury-elon-musk-in-batteries

 

#BASF and PJSC MMC #Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) announced today that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and entered exclusive negotiations to cooperate on the supply of raw materials for future battery materials production for #Lithium-ion batteries in #Europe. BASF intends to invest up to EUR400 million in a first step to build industry-leading production plants for cathode materials in Europe. Through the prospective agreement, BASF would receive the raw materials from the #Nornickel metal refinery in Harjavalta, #Finland. Nornickel would also provide a secure supply of #Nickel and #Cobalt feedstock from its #Russian mines at market prices. Along with its leading raw materials position, Nornickel also brings significant metals refining and trading experience to the cooperation.

Read more at: http://www.lse.co.uk/regulatory-news-article.asp?ArticleCode=s2qjjplt&ArticleHeadline=MMC_Norilsk_Nickel_BASF_and_Norilsk_Nickel_enter_exclusive_negotiations_to_cooperate_on_raw_material_supply_for_battery_materials_production_in_Europe

Researchers from the #US and #China have made progress in their joint collaboration on the use of #Lithium to control plasma within experimental nuclear fusion reactors.

Read more at: http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/201706/t20170623_178648.shtml

Nanotechnologists from #RiceUniversity and #China’s Tianjin University have used 3-D laser printing to fabricate centimeter-sized objects of atomically thin #Graphene.

The new Rice process used a commercially available CO2 laser. When this laser was shone onto the sugar and #Nickel powder, the sugar was melted and the nickel acted as a catalyst. #Graphene formed as the mixture cooled after the laser had moved on to melt sugar in the next spot.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-chemists-d-graphene-foam.html#jCp

The NEV (new energy vehicles) credit scheme encourages #Chinese auto manufacturers to improve the fuel efficiency of internal combustion cars and promote the production of electric vehicles.

“We remain cautious that policy will immediately translate to Chinese consumer uptake, but in conjunction with the slower ramp of new entrants, we see a supply deficit extending to the early 2020s,” #Macquarie said.

The analysts said demand drivers for #Lithium and #Cobalt, such as Chinese Government policy and commitments to build more electric vehicles from the big car manufacturers, were firming. “Meanwhile, new supply from both incumbents and new hopefuls is taking longer than expected to eventuate and the time scale of a deficit looks likely to extend,” they said.

Read more at: https://thewest.com.au/business/mining/macquarie-stumbles-with-backflip-on-lithium-outlook-ng-b88512864z

For fusion to generate substantial energy, the ultra-hot plasma that fuels fusion reactions must remain stable and kept from cooling. Researchers have recently shown #Lithium, a soft, silver-white metal, to be effective in both respects during path-setting #US – #Chinese experiments on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting #Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei, #China. Leading the U.S. collaboration is the U.S. Department of Energy’s (#DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), together with co-principal investigators Los Alamos and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, with Johns Hopkins University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Scientists from General Atomics also participate via a separate grant.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-06-us-china-collaboration-excellent-optimizing-lithium.html#jCp