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General Electric could get $15 million a year from Kentucky incentive program

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — General Electric Co. could get $15 million a year from Kentucky taxpayers under a bill pushed by State Rep. Larry Clark of Louisville, according to a new analysis by the Legislative Research Commission.

GE — which makes dishwashers, laundry machines and refrigerators at its 60-year-old Appliance Park factory in Louisville — has already been promised $20.5 million from the state coffers over 10 years, or about $2 million a year.

But Clark’s bill would sweeten the taxpayer assistance to GE by offering the same mega-deal incentives the state currently reserves for automakers such as Ford Motor Co. and Toyota and for their suppliers.

Ames Lab, Critical Materials Institute speed metals research

Posted on February 22, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng One comment

To find alternatives to rare-earth elements and other critical materials, scientists will need new and advanced tools. The Critical Materials Institute at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, operated by Iowa State University, has a new one: a 3D printer for metals research.

The Critical Materials Institute (CMI) will apply the advantages of the 3D printing process for materials discovery, so researchers can find substitutes to critical materials at risk of being in short supply. CMI scientists will use the printer instead of traditional casting methods to streamline the process of bulk combinatorial materials research, producing a large variety of alloys in a short amount of time.

“Metal 3D printers are slowly becoming more commonplace,” said Ryan Ott, principal investigator at the Ames Laboratory and the CMI. “They can be costly, and are often limited to small-scale additive manufacturing in industry. But for us, this equipment has the potential to become a very powerful research tool. We can rapidly synthesize large libraries of materials. It opens up a lot of new possibilities.”

How a pomegranate inspired a new lithium ion battery design

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Gigaom

The lithium ion battery could get a boost from the humble pomegranate. According to researchers at Stanford, including Amprius founder Yi Cui, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, clustering tiny silicon particles in a hard carbon rind — like seeds in a pomegranate — could be a helpful design breakthrough for using silicon in the next generation of lithium ion batteries.

A lithium-ion battery — the standard being used in gadgets today — is made up of three pieces: an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte that shuttles lithium-ions between the cathode and anode. That shuttling process is what happens when you charge and discharge a battery.

Scientists have long wanted to use silicon in the anode of a lithium ion battery because it can hold more energy per given volume than the traditional graphite that is commonly used — so a silicon anode battery could be smaller and…

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AREVA Initiates Mining Innovation Center Project

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

AREVA (Paris:AREVA) initiated this week the project for the construction of the Mining Innovation Center at its Bessines site (Limousin, France). This facility for mining research and expertise represents an investment of 33 million euros and will entail the construction of a new building.

Current activities at SEPA (Service d’Etudes de Procédés et Analyses) are lead by a team of 80 people who develop new processes for mineral ore treatment. Created in the 1980’s, the SEPA is currently divided between two separate buildings: one unit for developing pilot projects and a dedicated analysis laboratory.

Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140214-911269.html

NASA boards the 3-D-manufacturing train

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Given NASA’s unique needs for highly customized spacecraft and instrument components, additive manufacturing, or “3-D printing,” offers a compelling alternative to more traditional manufacturing approaches.

“We’re not driving the additive manufacturing train, industry is,” said Ted Swanson, the assistant chief for technology for the Mechanical Systems Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Swanson is the center’s point-of-contact for additive manufacturing. “But NASA has the ability to get on-board to leverage it for our unique needs.”

Self-assembly of graphene oxide coated soft magnetic carbonyl iron particles and their magnetorheology

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

The surface of carbonyl iron (CI) microspheres was modified with graphene oxide (GO) as a coating material using 4-aminobenzoic acid as the grafting agent. The morphology, elemental composition, and magnetic properties of the GO-coated CI (GO/CI) particles were examined byscanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and vibrating samplemagnetometry, respectively, confirming their composite formation. The magnetorheological(MR) performance of the GO/CI particle-based suspension was examined using a rotational rheometer connected to a magnetic field supply. The GO/CI particles suspension exhibited typical MR properties with increasing shear stress and viscosity depending on the appliedmagnetic field strength.

Source: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/115/17/10.1063/1.4863381

Norilsk signs PGM supply contract with BASF

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Norilsk Nickel has agreed a large-scale long-term contract for the supply of platinum group metal (PGM) chemical compounds to chemical company BASF.

Source: http://www.metalbulletin.com/Article/3301978/Base-metals/Norilsk-signs-PGM-supply-contract-with-BASF.html

As smelters weigh cost, Indonesia’s ore export ban may backfire

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Jan 27 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s ban on exports of key mineral ores – unless they are processed in the country – risks backfiring as weaker commodity prices mean it is not cost-effective to invest in expensive smelters and refineries.

The ban, which came into effect on Jan. 12, was unveiled in 2009 as a commodities boom began to froth and Jakarta sought to extract more value from its mineral resources. But metals prices and margins have since fallen, leading to oversupply and less need for building more processing capacity.

Nickel Seen Extending Rally by Goldman on Indonesia Ban

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Nickel, the best-performing industrial metal this year, may extend its rally as Indonesia’s ban on unprocessed ore exports crimps supply, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Goldman raised its 12-month price target on the metal used in stainless steel to $16,000 a metric ton from $15,000, analysts including Christian Lelong said in a report today. That would mean a 10 percent gain from now. Goldman also listed zinc and palladium among its top picks on tightening supplies, while iron ore and copper have “the greatest downside” risks, it said.

Titanium minerals exports to start from Kenyan mine this month

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng Leave a comment

Jan 7 (Reuters) – Kenya’s first exports of titanium minerals will be shipped this month from its biggest mine, with sales amounting to $4 million in January and February, mine operator Base Resources said on Tuesday.

Kenya’s first large-scale international mining project began production in October after being delayed since 2006 due to cash constraints, environmentalist protests, compensation disputes with local farmers and government red tape.