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Newsletter 38

Dear all,

In the field of critical resources, battery metals are once more in the spotlight, with a thorough review of Europe and USA progress to reach the level of China in the EV batteries supply chain (Energy-storage.news), some scenarios about the 5 key battery metals altogether (ING in Mining.com) as well as a true optimistic perspective on the high quality of battery recycling (IEEE Spectrum) and a Brazilian view on the future green supply of lithium (Mining.com). Not to forget Magnesium which current supply shortage from China impacts European metal industries (Green Car Congress). Last but not least, two potential solutions to tackle water scarcity with electro active bacteria used for off-grid desalination (EEC Horizon) and hydro panels that could bring clean water out of the atmosphere (The Guardian).

Further on the scientific front with a variety of innovations: a new building material out of recycled cement and CO2 from the air at University of Tokyo, two new techniques for battery metals recycling at RICE University and KTH University, atomic-scale exciton and therefore ultra low energy electronics developed by FLEET, a hydrogel tablet for purifying contaminated water at University of Texas, new insights on spintronics for ultra fast data storage by Helmholtz Association, breakthrough AI-based quantum computing at Osaka University, new path to lower cost and sustainable manufacturing of titanium at Berkeley National Laboratory and a wood-based material for safer batteries achieved at Brown University.

On the sustainability front, we picked 5 initiatives: an overall review of strategies to decarbonize building materials in Nature Communications, a precast concrete pilot project in the UK that demonstrates 40% reduction in CO2 emissions by optimizing all process steps on the supply chain in IOM3, Hydro Power at Kamoa Copper as a major step towards green mining in the DRC in Mining Weekly, a study by the International Council on Clean Transportation to assess the uncertainties regarding gaseous fuels' roles in meeting EU climate goals and lastly a demonstration in Nature that addressing EV weight reduction is crucial and feasible.

And finally, a lot has been happening on the side of our WMF Start Up Alumni with 24 of them being in the news this month. As usual,some open positions (Applied Nano Layers - NL, Demeta - France, Rein4ced - Belgium), new funding rounds (BackLeaf - France, Cold Pad - France), interesting press coverage (Brimstone Energy - USA, Carbios - France, CompPair - Switzerland, Nawa Technologies - France, Nitricity - USA, Ramlab - NL), award-winners (Nelumbo - USA), founders interviewed (C12 Quantum Electronics - France, EH Group - Switzerland, Fluence Analytics - USA, Graphene MG - Australia, Kebotix - USA, Twelve - USA, Woodoo - France) and last but not least, some promising collaborations (Cypris Materials - USA with BASF, Graphene MG - Australia with BOSCH, Polystyvert - Canada with COEXPAN, UbiQD - USA with National Renewable Energy Lab, UBQ Materials - Israel with BAZAN and Vartega - USA with Aditya Birla Advanced Materials).

As always, we hope you will enjoy the reading.

The WMF Editorial Team,
Victoire de Margerie, Valentin Desbuis & Sélène Ciancioni

CRITICAL RESOURCES

European Commission, September 30th:
Progress on water desalination

The Guardian, October 5th:
Could hydro panels be a solution to fight water shortages?

Energy-storage.news, October 8th:
Europe as a whole now nearly at the level of China in the lithium battery supply chains

Mining.com, October 17th:
ING long term scenarios for the top 5 battery metals

IEE Spectrum, October 15th:
Batteries with recycled cathodes can be as good or even better than those using brand new materials

Green Car Congress, October 24th:
Europeans metal industries call for action to mitigate Chinese magnesium supply shortage

Mining.com, October 26th:
A Brazilian view on lithium supply chain

MATERIALS SCIENCES

ARC Centre in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies, October 4th:
Significant step towards ultra low energy electronics

RICE University, October 4th :
Urban mining for metals flashes electronic trash into treasure transformation

University of Texas at Austin, October 5th:
Hydrogel Tablet Can Purify a Liter of River Water in an Hour

University of Tokyo, October 7th:
Recycled concrete and CO2 from the air are made into a new building material

KTH University, October 11th:
Ultrasound can enable faster more sustainable battery recycling

Helmholtz Association, October 18th:
Towards ultra fast data storage devices

SANKEN Osaka University, October 18th:
AI for high-fidelity quantum computing

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, October 20th:
Stronger, Lighter, Better : Nanotwinned Titanium Forges Path to Lower Cost and Sustainable Manufacturing

Brown University, October 21st:
New wood based material could pave way for better, safer batteries

SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES

IOM3, October 6th:
Pilot puts decarbonising precast concrete on the map

Mining Weekly, October 8th:
Greener mining in DRC

International Council on Clean Transportation, October 10th: Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of biomethane and hydrogen pathways in the EU

Nature, October 12th:
Addressing EVs weight issue is crucial and feasible

Nature Communication, October 21st:
Strategies to reduce CO2 footprint of building materials

OUR START UPS ALUMNI ARE IN THE NEWS!

Applied Nano Layers (N 2020), October 14th :
ANL is looking for Project Manager Facility, Process Engineer, Cleanroom Operators in The Hague.

BlackLeaf (N 2021), October 15th :
Graphene soon to be in space as BlackLeaf wins a 100,000€ envelope from the French National Center for Space Studies

Brimstone Energy (Grand Prix 2020), October 25th:
Brimstone Energy mentionned by Victoire de Margerie on Les Echos show

C12 Quantum Electronics (N 2021), October 18th:
Co-founder Pierre Desjardins interviewed (in French) about the seed round of $10m C12 Quantum Electronics made last June

Carbios (N2017 - Grand Prix Scale Up 2021), October 19th : Recyclage du plastique : la France parmi les pays les plus innovants

Cold Pad (N 2020), October 15th:
Cold Pad is one of the 12 promising french SMEs listed by the European Innovation Council

ComPair (N 2020), October 14th:
CompPair and its healable composites highlighted in Bilan.ch

Cypris Materials (N 2020), October 6th:
Cypris Materials Announces Collaboration with BASF

Demeta (N 2019), October 23rd:
Demeta & the CNRS (French National Research Center) are hiring an engineer in inorganic/organic synthesis

EH Group (Coup de Coeur Award 2020), October 21st :
EH Group co-founders interviewed for 5-HT Digital Hub

Fluence Analytics (N 2019) , October 4th:
Fresh off $7.5M funding -- Interview of CEO Alex Reed about the company's growth plans

Graphene MG (N 2020), October 27th:
GMG sign a collaboration arrangement for BOSCH to design and deliver GMG's Graphene Aluminium-Ion Battery manufacturing plant

Graphene MG (N 2020), October 27th:
GMG founder Craig Nichol interviewed in Midas Letter on its next-gen batteries for phones, cars & houses

Kebotix (N 2019), September 29th:
Kebotix in a Bloomberg podcast to announce a 15 million dollar partnership grant with the National Science Foundation, plus an internal discovery that can lead to more efficient glass !

NAWA Technologies (N 2019), October 1st :
NAWA has been selected as one of the 50 French companies with the greatest potential to become a unicorn within 5 years

Nelumbo (N 2020), October 15th :
Nelumbo won East Bay EDA's Innovation Award for Clean Tech

Nitricity (Grand Prix 2021), October 26th:
How revolutionary is Nitricity's technology? Find answers in this video

Polystyvert (Prix Coup de Coeur 2018), October 17th: Polystyvert and COEXPAN collaborate on dissolution rPS for yogurt packaging

Ramlab (N 2019), October 27th:
Ramlab highlighted in 3D Printing Industry website : What is DED and why should you be using it?

Rein4ced (N 2018), October 21st:
Many vacancies at Rein4ced (mechanical designer, process engineer...) : help the team build bikes in the next generation of carbon!

Twelve (N 2019) , October 4th:
Two co-founders of Twelve interviewed by Reuters on their carbon transformation technologies

UbiQD (N 2020), October 22nd:
Successful installation of QD-tinted solar windows at National Renewable Energy Laboratory

UBQ Materials (N 2021), October 25th:
Bazan Group to use UBQ Materials' waste-based material in new resin products

Vartega (N 2020), October 25th :
Collaboration between Vartega & Aditya Birla Advanced Materials to develop an ecosystem of recycling and recycled epoxy-based thermoset products

Woodoo (N 2017), October 20th :
Woodoo: augmented wood to build a healthier and carbon neutral city, on France Culture (FR)