Industry Trends

July 2023

See what has been happening in Asia’s petrochemicals, agrochemicals, automotive, bio energy, and mining industries over the last weeks. What are experts and industry magazines talking about?

What has been happening?

Mining the Moon to lift off within ten years, Dairy digester optimizes food waste feedstocks, Chemists develop reaction cascade to produce fluorinated molecules, and more. See what industry experts have been discussing in the last four weeks.

Latest Industry Articles

Mining the Moon to lift off within ten years

MINING.com

The US space agency (NASA) is looking to operate a pilot processing plant for lunar resources by 2032, as part of its planned Artemis missions, which will also take the first woman and first person of colour to the Earth’s natural satellite. According to Gerald Sanders, a NASA scientist, the government body will initially look to quantify potential resources, including energy, water and lunar soil, as a goal to attract commercial investment.

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Dairy Digester Optimizes Food Waste Feedstocks

Advanced BioFuels USA

Narrowing in on liquid and semi-liquid packaged food and beverages yields economic, digester performance and biogas generation benefits at Reinford Farms in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. Reinford Farms in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania began receiving food waste to add to its dairy manure digester in 2008.

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Chemists develop reaction cascade to produce fluorinated molecules

chemeurope.com

Fluorine is found rarely in naturally occurring organic molecules. However, this chemical element is indispensable for the production of pharmaceuticals or agrochemicals. Synthetic chemistry has an important role to play in the development of new fluorine-containing molecular fragments. Simple, modu…

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Yamaha backs hydrogen as green fuel option for carbon neutrality

Biofuels Digest

In Japan, Japan Times reported that Yamaha is backing hydrogen as a clean and viable option for reaching carbon neutrality and will develop it as a source of fuel. President and CEO Yoshihiro Hidaka, said: “We would like to keep many possibilities to achieve carbon neutrality.” “Among Japan’s two-wheeler manufacturers, there were hardly any testing hydrogen in addition to electric technology,” Hidaka said.

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This Is the Goldilocks Price for Oil

Rigzone.com

The goldilocks price for oil is around $70 per barrel. That’s FGE’s view, according to James Davis, the Director of Short-Term Global Oil Service & Head of Upstream Oil at the company, who told Rigzone that “the problem right now is that the world thinks it needs a higher price”.

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Sugar boosts capacity, longevity of next-gen flow battery

MINING.com

New research led by scientists at the US’ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that a common food and medicine additive can boost the capacity and longevity of a next-generation flow battery design in a record-setting experiment. In a paper published in the journal Joule, the researchers detail the first use of a dissolved simple sugar called β-cyclodextrin, a derivative of starch, to boost battery longevity and capacity.

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Toyota aims to halve size, cost, and weight of EV batteries with new solid-state technology

MINING.com

Toyota said on Tuesday it has made a technological breakthrough that will allow it to halve the weight, size, and cost of batteries. “For both our liquid and solid-state batteries, we are aiming to drastically change the situation where current batteries are too big, heavy, and expensive,” said Keiji Kaita, president of Toyota’s research and development center for carbon neutrality. “In terms of potential, we will aim to halve all of these factors.

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Fluorine protects both teeth and lithium batteries against decay

MINING.com

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have discovered a fluorine electrolyte that could protect the next generation of lithium metal batteries against performance decline. Fluorine, particularly in the form of sodium fluoride, is incorporated in many toothpastes to protect teeth against decay. The compound may also be the key to pushing non-lithium-ion batteries.

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A New Hydrogen: from Methane, via Pyrolysis, without the CO2 Release

Advanced BioFuels USA

This column from Chingis Idrissov focuses on production of hydrogen from methane, with an underlying assumption that the methane will come from fossil gas reserves. But, not necessarily so. There’s renewable methane, which we would style not so much as classic green hydrogen (made from water splitting), or even turquoise, but as ultra- low carbon-intensity hydrogen, call it ULKI.

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Lipid Making in Plants Involves the Cooperation of Two Organelles, Study Finds

Advanced BioFuels USA

Two enzymes that plants need to make oils live in different organelles, a pair of RIKEN researchers has found. This finding will help inform efforts to tweak the metabolism of plants to boost their production of oils, which can be used as biofuels among other things. As well as forming the building blocks for the cell membranes of plants, membrane lipids are the precursors for the oils stored in seeds.

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Cyanobacteria in Sustainable Agriculture

Biofuels Digest

Cyanobacteria are a group of photosynthetic bacteria that can live in diverse environments, such as soil, water, and rocks. Handled properly, they can have several beneficial effects on crop growth, including helping control plant disease, reducing pest damage, increasing crop quality, and improving crop yields.

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New aluminium radical battery promises more sustainable power

Science Daily

Scientists are hoping to make the world’s first safe and efficient non-toxic aqueous aluminum radical battery. Scientists have now reported the first stage of developing these novel batteries.

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Indonesia Plans to Hike Biodiesel Mandate in Next Few Years

Advanced BioFuels USA

Indonesia plans to raise its mandatory palm oil-based biodiesel blending to 40 per cent in the next few years, but for now will keep it unchanged at 35 per cent, the country’s energy minister said on Monday. The world’s biggest palm oil producer raised mandatory blending from 30 per cent to 35 per cent in February, however it has not been fully implemented in some areas. “Right now we stay with B35, and then we do preparation for B40.

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Malaysia Airlines Secures Large Scale SAF Supply at Kuala Lumpur Airport

Advanced BioFuels USA

The Malaysia Airlines Group (MAG) has reached an agreement to purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for use in its flights from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

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World’s first commercial thorium reactor approved in China

Global Construction Review

Chinese authorities have issued an operational permit for the country’s first thorium reactor. The decision comes two years after researchers at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics unveiled a prototype, which was billed as the first reactor that did not require water for cooling. The Thorium Molten Salt Reactor project, begun in 2011, has been under way in Wuwei City, Gansu province, in China’s remote northwest.

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Toyota, Toyota Tsusho and Mitsubishi Kakoki to introduce biogas-based hydrogen in Thailand

Biofuels Digest

In Japan, Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Toyota Tsusho), and Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha, Ltd. (Mitsubishi Kakoki) will introduce biogas-derived hydrogen production equipment for the first time in Thailand. The hydrogen production equipment to be introduced will be manufactured by Mitsubishi Kakoki and installed in Thailand in November 2023 to produce hydrogen from biogas derived from local chicken manure and food waste.

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Bangchak signs construction agreement for UCO SAF project

Biofuels Digest

In Thailand, the signing ceremony for the construction marked the launch of Thailand’s first and only Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production unit from used cooking oil between BSGF Company Limited – a joint venture between Bangchak Corporation Public Company Limited, BBGI Public Company Limited, and Thanachok Oil Light Company Limited, and TTCL Public Company Limited, an esteemed engineering and construction company from Japan, with more than 20 years of business experience with Bangchak.

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Thai Cabinet supports use of ethanol for bioplastics production

Biofuels Digest

In Thailand, Thaiger reported that the Thai Cabinet has given the green light for the promotion of ethanol in the production of bioplastics, aiming to develop more eco-friendly materials. The report noted that this decision supports the ethanol bioplastic manufacturing industry with tax exemptions for bioethylene, a key precursor in bioplastic pellet production. Current legislation in Thailand states that domestically produced ethanol can only be used for fuel and liquor production.

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China signals deeper reforms in power sector, focus on carbon emissions

The Malay Mail Online

China will double down on power system reforms and shift its focus to reducing carbon emissions, a Communist Party policymaking body said late yesterday, without giving further details.

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Thai and Malaysian researchers develop pineapple waste plastic

Biofuels Digest

In Thailand and Malaysia, researchers have successfully developed bioplastic made from waste pineapple stems. The team from Mahidol University and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia also produced a test version of a bread clip using this material, which successfully held a bag closed. “Plastic waste poses a significant challenge for the environment, particularly smaller plastic products that are often difficult to recycle or collect, according to the paper abstract in peer-reviewed journal Polymers.

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