Manufacturing news briefs — stories you might have missed

AnteoTech engages with EV manufacturers to incorporate its anode materials

Clean energy technology company AnteoTech is now engaged at different levels with the majority of European EV manufacturers as they seek to incorporate higher performing anodes in their vehicle batteries. At the recent The Battery Show, in Stuttgart, Germany the company continued to move towards prototyping with a customer named as EV1 by AnteoTech. According to an annouincement testing and validation with EV1 continues to confirm the value of Anteo XTM proprietary anodes. During the recent visit to Europe AnteoTech also met with management teams from EV2 and EV3. The outline of the development services required by EV2 to assist them to incorporate AnteoTech’s proprietary silicon anode technology has been discussed and a costed proposal will be provided shortly. Further approaches were received from other major European EV manufacturers, referred to as EV6 & EV7.

Cyclopharm capital raising oversubscribed

Radiopharmaceutical imaging company Cyclopharm has closed its share purchase plan seeking $2 million from shareholders at $4 million, following strong over-subscription. The raising follows a successful institutional placement which raised $20 million in May. The only applicants to not receive their full allocation requests in the SPP were those who lodged more than one offer and whose totals exceeded the maximum $30,000. Cyclopharm’s Managing Director James McBrayer said: “We are pleased to provide all eligible shareholders with the opportunity to participate in this offer. Exceptional interest has allowed us to double its size by an additional $2.0 million, and like our recently completed share Placement, we appreciate the support this oversubscription demonstrates.”

AIS Water wins two pool industry awards for latest product

AIS Water has won two awards at this month’s SPASA (Swimming Pool & Spa Association) 2024 Queensland Awards for its residential pool chlorinator (pictured.) According to a statement on Tuesday from the company — which designs and manufactures AutoChlor NEO — the product took out New Product of the Year and Product of the Year at the awards. “Two standout features of NEO are its ability to operate across a wide spectrum of salinity levels, automatically detecting salinity and operating accordingly, and its Genuine AIS Water Cell Recognition, ensuring that only AIS genuine cells can be used thereby ensuring optimal performance, longevity and customer investment,” said CEO Elena Gosse. “NEO addresses the industry’s demand for a quality, cost-effective and efficient chlorinator that will be able to be used worldwide.” NEO  will be offered to the global market later this year.

Crude steel production up over May

Global crude steel production for the 71 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 165.1 million tonnes (Mt) in May 2024, up 1.5 per cent compared to May 2023.Among the top ten steel-making nations, China produced 92.9 Mt in May 2024 (up 2.7 per cent on May 2023), India produced 12.2 Mt (up 3.5 per cen), Japan produced 7.2 Mt (down 6.3 per cent), the United States produced 6.9 Mt (down 1.5 per cent). Russia is estimated to have produced 6.3 Mt (down 0.9 per cent), South Korea produced 5.2 Mt (down 10.9 per cent). Germany produced 3.2 Mt, (down 1.9 per cent), Türkiye produced 3.2 Mt (up 11.6 per cent), Iran produced 3.3 Mt (up 2.1 per cent) and Brazil produced 2.6 Mt (down 7.4 per cent.)

Queensland announces $40 million Townsville local renewable energy zone pilot

A Local Renewable Energy Zone (LREZ) will be established in Townsville, aiming to have the community generate, store, share and use more renewable energy, using electricity infrastructure that already exists. According to a statement from the Queensland government on Tuesday, the LREZ will work by allowing households with rooftop solar to transfer the energy they generate during the day into local batteries, to be transferred back to additional households during night-time, when the sun isn’t shining and energy usage is at its peak. The government said it will fund $40 million for the Townsville LREZ pilot project, targeting deployment of up to 8.4 megawatt/18.8 megawatt hours of battery storage and support up to an additional 2.8 megawatt of solar PV, and 0.9 megawatt of demand management. Townsville is one of two LREZ projects funded in the recent state budget, along with Caloundra, and the project is planned to come online in January.

ACS wins innovation award

Advanced Composite Structures Australia has received a 2024 Innovation Award for Advancements in Composites Technology in the “component” category for its work on engineering lightweight composite azimuth arms for satellites with EM Solutions. In a note on Linkedin, ACS thanked Thank you to Composites Australia for acknowledging the project. EM Solutions commissioned ACS to enhance their satcom systems by replacing the existing metallic azimuth arms with a more efficient, lightweight composite solution. The result was a single-piece carbon-fibre design that achieved a 65 per cent mass reduction compared to the traditional multi-piece aluminium design, without compromising on the performance demands of naval deployment.​ The King Cobra Maritime Satellite Terminal system supports critical military communications and is used on naval vessels.

Tasmanian fermentation hub under construction

FermenTas’s  Fermentation Hub is beginning to take shape at Legana, according to the Tasmanian government, which committed to a $1.7 million grant backing the project during the election. Deputy premier Michael Ferguson said the upcoming site will become “a centre of excellence and one of knowledge-sharing, ideas and passion for finding the next big thing, be it a beer, a cider, a kombucha or a kimchi.” Minister for education, Jo Palmer, said the hub will generate a range of benefits from new businesses and products to new training and career options, export growth to waste reduction, that there were 94 jobs being supported through the design and construction of the facility. “We hope that FermenTas achieves another of its stated goals of the fermentation hub project, creating new career paths not offered in Tasmania before, giving more young Tasmanians more reasons to stay here rather than losing them interstate,” she added.

Picture: AIS Water’s AutoChlor NEO product (supplied)