Best of the week — the five most popular stories among readers, July 7 – July 11, 2025

What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to @AuManufacturing were reading.

5) Methane-to-turquoise hydrogen catalyst project awarded $492,526 grant from AEA

A team including energy technology company 1414 Degrees has been awarded an Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) Ignite grant of $492,526 for a project progressing a proprietary hydrogen reactor.

According to a statement to the ASX-listed company on Tuesday, the grant is for catalyst development concerning its SiPHyR (Storage integrated Pyrolytic Hydrogen Reactor) technology, and involves University of Adelaide and University of Queensland.

SiPHyR creates “low-cost turquoise hydrogen and valuable solid carbon co-products” from methane pyrolysis. It combines 1414 Degrees’ silicon-based thermal energy storage bricks (pictured) with a “dual column bubble reactor” invented at the University of Adelaide.

4) LS Precast selected to make 96,000 concrete segments for Suburban Rail Loop

Benalla, Victoria’s LS Precast has been selected to make concrete segments for a 16-kilometre section of the Suburban Rail Loop, a transport and urban planning project currently being built in the state.

According to a statement from SRL minister Harriet Shing on Friday, the company will supply over 96,000 segments for the section of twin tunnels running between Cheltenham and Glen Waverley. The value of the contract was not shared.

Approximately 170 segments will be built a day onsite for the SRL East twin tunnels, with a start date scheduled for October.

3) AML3D identified as ‘pivotal’ for US Navy growth

The US Navy has issued a Letter of Intent to Australian additive manufacturer AML3D to collaborate in supporting the Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base (MIB) program expansion into surface ships and in-service support.

The LoI is focused on AML3D supporting the Navy through parts manufacturing and its metal 3D printing systems.

This LoI included an MIB study that found a minimum of 400 parts will need to be produced additively in 2026, rising up to 1600 parts by 2030, and that AML3D’s ARCEMY systems are critical in meeting this need, which includes installing up to 100 new additive manufacturing systems across the industrial base.

2) You won’t believe how badly this tiny Australian clock just embarrassed the entire GPS system

Forget everything you thought you knew about keeping time – University of Adelaide scientists have built quantum clocks so accurate they make GPS look like a sundial in a thunderstorm.

These cutting-edge optical quantum clocks have been proven to outperform GPS navigation systems by many orders of magnitude during real-world naval exercises in Hawaii, marking a breakthrough that could revolutionise how we navigate in hostile environments.

The clocks were developed by a team led by Professor Andre Luiten, chief innovator and chair of experimental physics at the Institute of Photonics and Advanced Sensing, working alongside colleagues at the Defence Science and Technology Group.

1) Suntory Oceania launches $3 billion beverage powerhouse

Japanese drinks giant Suntory officially launched on Monday its new $3 billion multi-beverage business in the Australian marketplace, dubbed Suntory Oceania.

Announced in August 2023, the establishment of Suntory Oceania creates the region’s fourth largest multi-beverage group with end-to-end responsibility for its portfolio of premium spirits, ready-to-drink alcohol beverages, juice, water, soft drinks, coffee, energy and sports drinks.

The company has grown its Oceania workforce to 1,500 people and completed the transformation of a greenfield site into a $400 million state-of-the-art, carbon-neutral facility in Queensland.

And in case you missed our podcast…

In episode 122 of @AuManufacturing Conversations, Simran Gill speaks to Dr Ian Mann, CTO of BluGlass.

And episode 123 was recorded live at our recent Spotlight on Scaling Up seminar. “Patient capital: how long tech takes at times” was a panel featuring James Walker from BluGlass, Geoff Bell from MicroBioGen, and Phil Hodgson from Calix, with Ryan Pollett from BDO as moderator.

Picture: supplied