Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Traffic Technologies awarded $9 million contract

Road management and traffic signal company Traffic Technologies has been awarded a contract with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads expiring in 2032 that is worth up to $9 million. The contract, effectively giving the company access to the Queensland market, is for the supply of hardware and software for the state’s integrated transport infrastructure outside Brisbane. Traffic managing director Con Liosatos said the long-term secure revenue source was for a wide variety of traffic management solutions. He said: “The group has been able to significantly strengthen its position in the Queensland market following the acquisition of the Intelligent Transport Systems business…in June, 2021.”

Iveco to end Australian manufacturing operations next year

Truck builder Iveco announced last week that it would import its heavy-duty range of trucks from its headquarters in Madrid, Spain, rather than build these in Dandenong, Victoria. The move to fully importing for the Australian market was anticipated to take effect in late-June, 2022, said Iveco in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the company already “fully imports its Light Duty, Medium Duty, selected Heavy Duty, Minibus and Off-Road models.” Trucksales observed that the switch to importing wouldn’t surprise the local trucking industry — following the recent demise of Iveco’s ACCO truck, which had been built at the site since 1962 — and would leave just two Australian truck manufacturing sites: Volvo Group Australia in Brisbane and PACCAR Australia in Melbourne.

Divigas raises cash for hydrogen separation membrane

InvestVictoria supported start-up DiviGas has announced a $3.6 million seed funding round to support the commercialisation of a new next-generation polymeric hydrogen separation membrane. Divi-H is a filter at a molecular level that purifies hydrogen and helps capture the associated CO2. The disruptive membrane will be produced at a pilot-scale plant in Melbourne (pictured) that should be operational in March. InvestVictoria assisted Divigas in securing a site in Melbourne that meets all the safety requirements for hydrogen handling. This company plans the production of Divi-H at an industrial scale, under the first two mass manufacturing lines. The company is also developing a CO2 purifying membrane.

Sundrive appoints Professor Alison Lennon

Sydney solar cell manufacturing start-up SunDrive Solar has appointed Professor Alison Lennon of UNSW as Chief Scientist as it gets ready to demonstrate its technology at a production scale. As a senior research and teaching academic at the School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW, Professor Lennon has deep expertise in electrochemistry, high-rate energy storage, inkjet/aerosol jet printing, and end-of-life module analysis and the circular economy of solar manufacturing. She was the supervisor of company co-founder Vince Allen during his PhD, and has provided key insights and feedback as an advisor since the formation of the company. Professor Lennon has 29 granted US patents to her name.

Site chosen for proposed blue hydrogen refinery

Environmental Clean Technologies has bought a site for the deployment of its hydrogen refinery project in Victoria’s La Trobe Valley. The company has bought a 4.2 hectare site in Yallourn Drive, Yallourn, adjacent to the Yallourn open-cut lignite mine and power station. The company has made an application to the federal government for a ‘clean hydrogen’ industrial hub at the site. While the company claims its process is ‘near-zero emissions’, it involves the combustion of fossil fuel brown coal.

First Graphene’s graphene to be utilised in Protectology Ltd products

Nanotechnology developer Protectology Ltd is to launch conductive coatings enhanced with PureGraph graphene supplied by First Graphene Ltd. Protectology will exclusively promote PureGraph enhanced coatings under its own brand name Prograph. Plastics are poor conductors of electricity and can accumulate dangerous static charges. The Prograph sprayable conductive coating for plastic surfaces dissipates static charges, preventing detrimental effects on electronics and equipment, including in cable networks. PureGraph also confers fire retardant properties. First Graphene said the agreement would turn into a supply agreement for its products.

Picture: DiviGas/membrane filter

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