Heidelberg Materials UK has proven a zero concrete waste process at its Greenwich plant on the Thames, recovering aggregates for reuse and pairing concrete recycling with CarbonCure CO2-injection technology. Heidelberg Materials UK said it has proven a zero concrete waste process at its Greenwich plant on the River Thames, using…
Moët Hennessy and Verallia have launched a research partnership to develop lightweight glass bottles, cutting wine and spirits packaging weight by 30% to 50% to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint. Moët Hennessy, the wine and spirits division of LVMH, and Verallia, Europe’s largest producer of glass packaging for food and…
Swedish cement technology company Cemvision and precast concrete manufacturer S:t Eriks have signed a partnership to bring near-zero carbon concrete to the Nordic and Baltic construction markets by 2028. Swedish cement technology firm Cemvision and precast concrete manufacturer S:t Eriks have signed a joint sales agreement to develop and commercialise…
Bulgaria’s glass packaging industry has launched a national Close the Glass Loop platform to raise collection for glass recycling, aiming to help meet the EU’s 90% target by 2030. Bulgaria’s glass packaging value chain has united to launch a new national platform for glass collection and recycling, joining a Europe-wide…
Calgary-based Cura has closed a $10 million USD funding round to expand its electrochemical low-carbon cement pilot with Grand Forks Concrete, a step toward commercial-scale production in Alberta. Calgary-based cleantech company Cura has closed a $10 million USD ($14 million CAD) funding round on 17 September, its second tranche, to…
The Hydrogen Council’s latest Hydrogen Compass report puts the global low-carbon hydrogen pipeline at $130 billion and 6.9 million tonnes a year, with ammonia the leading offtake. The Hydrogen Council said in its latest annual Hydrogen Compass report that the global low-carbon hydrogen project pipeline has grown to $130 billion…
EU member states agreed to expand free ETS allowances for energy-intensive industries from 2026 to 2030, aiming to protect steel, cement and chemicals producers from carbon leakage. EU member states have agreed to expand free ETS allowances for energy-intensive industries between 2026 and 2030, a move the Council of the…
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CAC Engineering’s pilot plant in Freiberg, Germany has produced 300,000 litres of synthetic gasoline, showing its power-to-liquids process can run reliably over a sustained period. A pilot plant in Freiberg, Germany has produced 300,000 litres of synthetic gasoline, a threshold its developer says demonstrates that its power-to-liquids process can run reliably over a sustained period rather than only in short bursts. The facility, run by CAC Engineering at TU Bergakademie Freiberg, uses the company’s METHAFUEL technology to convert e-methanol into synthetic gasoline through the DeCarTrans research programme. Reaching 300,000 litres of cumulative output matters because continuous, reliable operation, rather than…
NEDO and four Japanese partners achieved 85% ammonia co-firing in a full-scale naphtha cracking furnace, a step towards decarbonising petrochemical production without a full plant redesign. A Japanese consortium has achieved an 85% ammonia co-firing rate across a full-scale naphtha cracking furnace, a milestone the group says clears one of the toughest technical barriers to decarbonising petrochemical production. NEDO, Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, ran the demonstration together with Mitsui Chemicals, Maruzen Petrochemical, Toyo Engineering and Sojitz Machinery, testing a furnace fitted with a newly developed ammonia-fired burner. The 85% figure covers the entire furnace on a…
Mission Possible Partnership has published guardrails for mass balance claims, aiming to help buyers judge which accounting systems for low-carbon steel, cement and chemicals deserve their trust. Mission Possible Partnership has published a framework for assessing mass balance claims, aiming to stop the accounting method used across steel, cement, chemicals, aluminium and aviation supply chains from undermining trust in low-emission products. The report, titled “Principles and Guardrails for Credible Mass Balance Claims”, sets out what MPP calls a due-diligence tool for buyers, producers and standard setters to judge whether a given mass balance system deserves confidence. Section 6 of the…
Kanin Energy raised $100 million from S2G Investments and Canada Growth Fund to expand waste heat recovery across cement, steel, refining and gas plants, cutting costs and emissions. Kanin Energy has raised $100 million in new equity to expand waste heat recovery projects across North American cement, steel, refining and gas facilities, the Calgary-based developer said on 17 September. S2G Investments led the round with a $50 million commitment, matched by a further $50 million from Canada Growth Fund. Kanin, founded in 2020, converts heat that would otherwise vent from industrial processes into electricity, and says up to 58% of…
ENEOS Holdings used AI catalyst discovery from Matlantis and NVIDIA to screen 100 million candidate materials for hydrogen electrolysis, cutting a years-long search to just months. ENEOS Holdings has used AI catalyst discovery to screen around 100 million candidate materials for hydrogen electrolysis, cutting a search that once took years down to a few months, Matlantis and NVIDIA said on 17 September. The Japanese energy group combined Matlantis PFP, a general-purpose machine learning interatomic potential, with NVIDIA ALCHEMI, an accelerated computing platform for chemistry and materials workloads. Together the two systems let ENEOS evaluate huge numbers of candidate structures for…
Aircapture and NGK have commissioned a direct air capture unit at AIZAWA Concrete’s Fukushima site, testing NGK ceramic substrates in commercial conditions and looking at concrete mineralisation as an outlet for the captured gas. Aircapture and NGK Corporation have started a joint direct air capture demonstration at AIZAWA Concrete Corporation’s…
Durham University researchers put the hydrogen storage potential of depleted North Sea oil and gas fields at 3,659 terawatt-hours, enough to take conventional gas power stations off the British grid by 2040. Depleted oil and gas fields in the North Sea could hold 3,659 terawatt-hours of hydrogen, more than seven…
Carbon capture developer Mantel has raised $18 million from Constellation Technology Ventures and Azimut Investments, taking total funding to $50 million as it moves molten borate capture into power, pulp and oil and gas projects. Mantel has raised $18 million from Constellation Technology Ventures, Azimut Investments and existing investors to…
Japan’s trade ministry has asked for JPY 1.26 trillion in its fiscal 2027 budget request for green transformation, more than double this year’s allocation, with electric arc furnace conversion and green steel procurement in the frame. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has requested JPY 1.26 trillion ($7.88 billion)…
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BMW’s Car2Car consortium has shown that additional sorting can strip copper from end-of-life vehicle scrap well enough to make flat steel for cars, with more than 100,000 series parts already built and installed. High-quality material loops are technically feasible in the automotive industry, and copper-bearing impurities in steel scrap can be reduced notably, BMW said after completing its Car2Car research project with partners, EUROMETAL reported on 27 August. The project focused on steel, aluminium and copper, and also considered other materials including glass. BMW’s consortium included Scholz Recycling, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe and Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung, alongside academic partners such as…
UNEP says copper demand will rise more than 40% by 2040 while mined output peaks around 2030, leaving a projected shortfall of 6.5 million tonnes within the next five years. Demand for copper will rise more than 40% by 2040 while mined production is expected to peak around 2030 and then flatten or decline, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. The projection appears in a UNEP article published on 27 August on securing the materials the energy transition needs. Copper carries electrification. Electric vehicles use up to four times as much of it as traditional combustion engines, and it…
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While the Middle East advances its solar capacity and manufacturing capabilities, substantial fossil fuel investments and policy gaps highlight the region’s complex journey towards net zero by 2060, balancing ambition with economic reliance on hydrocarbons. The Middle East’s pathway to decarbonisation is gathering momentum in its power systems and manufacturing base, even as broader economic incentives and ongoing fossil fuel investment leave the region far from the emission trajectories implied by many national pledges. According to Wood Mackenzie’s Energy Transition Outlook, closing that gap would demand roughly US$5.3 trillion of cumulative spending to hit net zero by 2060; under the…
Cornwall’s United Downs plant marks a significant breakthrough by producing continuous electricity and recovering lithium from geothermal brine, signalling a new era for UK deep geothermal power and critical mineral supply amid ambitions to decarbonise. Geothermal Engineering Ltd’s United Downs project in Cornwall has begun steady electricity production and on‑site lithium recovery, marking a practical first for deep geothermal power in Britain and a novel fusion of baseload renewable generation with critical mineral supply. The plant is delivering around 3 megawatts of continuous electrical output to the national system, a level the developer says will meet the annual electricity demand…
Industry leaders warn that delays and policy uncertainty are threatening the UK’s nascent hydrogen sector, risking economic and environmental gains unless ministers act swiftly to unlock investment and streamline regulation. Energy sector leaders are pressing UK ministers to remove bottlenecks that threaten to stall the country’s nascent hydrogen industry at a critical moment for decarbonisation and industrial competitiveness. Industry groups, developers and investors say momentum built around low‑carbon hydrogen is being undermined by repeated delays and policy uncertainty, particularly around the government’s Hydrogen Allocation Rounds and the long‑promised refresh of the national Hydrogen Strategy. The Hydrogen Energy Association (HEA), which…
As global chip manufacturing expands rapidly, industry leaders emphasise the need for innovative methods to reduce water and energy use, integrating circularity and efficiency to ensure supply chain resilience and environmental sustainability. Semiconductor manufacturing’s rapid advance is colliding with hard limits in energy and water resources, forcing fabs and equipment suppliers to reframe production priorities around conservation, reuse and operational efficiency. Ryan Zrno, chief executive of JST, argues that addressing water and energy demands in wet processing and cleanroom systems is now central to sustaining both output and supply‑chain resilience. Water is the industry’s most conspicuous constraint. The sector already…
A groundbreaking German study introduces a polymer-based technology capable of capturing sunlight, storing chemical energy for days, and releasing hydrogen on demand, potentially transforming industrial green hydrogen supply chains. Researchers in Germany have demonstrated a polymer-based system that captures sunlight, stores the resulting chemical energy for days and then releases it as hydrogen on demand, offering a novel route for time‑decoupled green hydrogen production with potential industrial applications. According to a report by TechXplore summarising the paper published in Nature Communications, the team from Ulm University and Friedrich Schiller University Jena synthesised a water‑soluble redox‑active copolymer that functions as a…
A shift towards systemic redesign in heavy industry focus on sector coupling and hydrogen integration to create a low-carbon, flexible energy system that benefits both power grids and industrial processes. The push to decarbonise heavy industry is shifting from isolated actions to systemic redesign, with the power sector and industrial processes increasingly treated as components of a single energy ecosystem. Where earlier strategies relied largely on expanding renewable electricity generation, a new emphasis on sector coupling seeks to harness industrial demand as a stabilising and enabling force for a renewable-led grid, while the power system supplies the low-carbon energy carriers…
Forecasts indicate a dramatic shift towards electrolyser‑based ‘green’ hydrogen, potentially constituting over 88% of low‑carbon hydrogen production by 2030, driven by falling renewable costs and policy support. New analysis of the low‑carbon hydrogen market points to a dramatic shift towards electrolyser‑based “green” hydrogen over the remainder of the decade, with industry forecasters predicting it will supply the vast majority of certified low‑carbon hydrogen by 2030. According to GlobalData’s Low‑Carbon Hydrogen Market Report, Update 2025, green hydrogen produced by renewable‑powered electrolysers is expected to expand rapidly and account for about 88.6% of global low‑carbon hydrogen production by 2030, up from roughly…
Schneider Electric prepares to host its second Innovation Summit in Abu Dhabi, focusing on integrating electrification, automation, and digital services to meet rising electricity demand and accelerate AI-driven energy solutions across the Middle East and Africa. Schneider Electric will stage the second Innovation Summit for the Middle East and Africa in Abu Dhabi on April 28–29, 2026, positioning the event as a focal point for policymakers, utilities, data centre operators and industrial energy managers wrestling with surging electricity demand and the rapid rollout of AI and digital infrastructure. According to the company, the Summit will showcase how tighter integration of…
Manufacturers are leveraging IIoT sensors and data analytics to expose inefficiencies hidden within the ‘hidden factory,’ offering significant gains in cost reduction, throughput, and sustainability. According to a Schneider Electric blog post, many manufacturers are still quietly siphoning capacity and margin into what industry practitioners call the “hidden factory” , the unrecorded rework, inspections, workarounds and failure investigations that do not create value but consume people, material and machine time. Industry analyses and practitioner guides note that these activities can represent a sizeable share of a plant’s productive capacity and materially inflate the cost of poor quality. According to OEE.com…
Emerging applications of graphene in cement and concrete could significantly cut carbon emissions, with commercial trials demonstrating performance and environmental benefits in large-scale projects. Cement and concrete remain among the largest sources of industrial greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for roughly 8% of the world’s CO2 output. That scale, comparable to and in some measures exceeding other major sectors, has prompted a search for transformative materials and processes that can cut the carbon intensity of construction without undermining performance or inflating costs. According to a World Cement feature by Michael Bell of First Graphene, one route gaining traction is the incorporation…
