Pv Project In India Has Been Completed In Line With The Schedule, Despite Multiple Challenges During The Pandemic

Engie, has announced the commissioning of a 200 Mwac (290 Mwp) Solar Power Project at the Raghanesda Solar Power Park, in Raghanesda, Gujarat. Engie collaborated with multiple Government of Gujarat entities to construct the project that will generate close to 546 gigawatt-hours of electricity while reducing 387,056 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The project was won in a tender process run by Guvnl and the Power Purchase Contract for 25 years was signed in August 2019 with Guvnl (Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited), and the Implementation Support Agreement was signed in October 2019 with Gpcl (Gujarat Power Corporation Limited). Debt for the project has been secured under a long-term project financing arrangement with the Asian Development Bank (Adb) and Societe Generale.

The project has been implemented through Electro Solaire Private Limited (Espl), a special purpose vehicle owned by the Engie Group.

Neerav Nanavaty, Country Manager, Engie India, said, “After overcoming several challenges at the site, the team is excited to announce the commissioning of this marquee project that is sure to boost the dynamic Indian solar industry and contribute towards decarbonizing India’s energy mix. We would like to thank all the public and private sector stakeholders and the local communities for their support and cooperation in helping us achieve this critical milestone in our renewable growth journey in India.”

Suresh Bhaskar, Managing Director Renewables – Middle East, Egypt & India, Engie Asia Middle East and Africa, said, “Engie is fully committed to play an active role to support India in achieving its ambitious clean energy goals for 2030. Successful commercial operation of this project is a testament to Engie’s continued interest to pursue renewable opportunities in India and further grow its renewable portfolio of more than 1 GW installed capacity in the country.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           With 17 ventures with over 1.1 GWp of solar PV and 280 MW of wind power, Engie’s portfolio developing in India . This innovative reiterates Engie’s ambition to be a major renewable energy provider, as India becomes a rapidly growing market in the transition to clean energy. This project going to set a mark on upcoming industries to look towards eco-friendly ways.

For more details: www.engie.com/en

Electroimpact, Toray And Janicki Advance Processing Technologies For Rapid Manufacture Of Large Thermoplastic Composite Parts

A joint advancement between Electroimpact, Toray Advanced Composites, and Janicki Industries has achieved a leap forward in the high-speed manufacture of large thermoplastic composite parts. The project has resulted in the extension of automated, cost-effective processing technologies that can manufacture large-scale thermoplastic parts at high-speed deposition rates of up to 4000 inches (100 meters) per minute.

Electroimpact, High-speed Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) equipment has been enhanced for processing thermoplastic materials with a Variable-Spot-Size Laser heating system. This system uses a wide range of processing temperatures for robust process control across single tows to accommodate severe contours while allowing thermoplastic composite parts to be repairable during AFP lay-up, thereby decreasing the risk of wastage throughout the manufacturing process.

Processing speeds of up to 4000 IPM (100 m/min) have been achieved with light or heavy tack levels to guarantee part geometry. “When these advancements are combined with increased AFP reliability, in-process real-time inspection and maintenance intervals, the resulting AFP 4.0 processing increases 4x-6x current productivity”, Michael Assadi, Chief Engineer at Electroimpact”.

To maximize production performances, the AFP layup is developed directly on an out-of autoclave heated lay-up tooling system, engineered by Janicki Industries, which is then fully consolidated in-situ, achieving a complete thermal process cycle in less than one hour. The tooling mode is designed for scalability to support parts that are too large for traditional heated press applications and achieves significantly faster cycle times than high-temperature autoclaves.

For more details: www.toraytac.com

European Brands Association, Alliance To End Plastic Waste And City Of Copenhagen Join Forces

The European Brands Association and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste proclaimed today a partnership to drive the next stages of growth for smart waste sorting under the Digital Watermarks Initiative Holy Grail 2.0. Both will work with the City of Copenhagen to conduct the semi-industrial test period about the pilot. By this milestone, developers advance one step closer to precision classification and sorting of plastic packaging waste through digital watermarks, with the potential to revolutionize the sorting and recycling method of plastic packaging.

Digital watermarks are imperceptible codes, all the size of a postage stamp. They embrace the facade of customer goods packaging and carry a broad range of characteristics such as packaging type, material, and practice. Used packaging is gathered and scanned on the sorting line with a high-resolution camera which identifies and decodes the digital watermark. This packaging is then sorted into analogous streams, based on detailed attributes including food, non-food, or polymer types. This leads to more precise sorting streams and higher quality recyclates to be channelled into the plastic packaging value chain.

The breakthrough signifies the second year of the HolyGrail 2.0 project. After its launch in September 2020, it has grown to include over 130 participating companies and organizations across the complete packaging value chain. This pioneering HolyGrail 1.0 was facilitated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation between 2016 and 2019.

“We are delighted to enter the next phase of semi-industrial testing within the Digital Watermarks Initiative together with our new partner, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste”, quoted Michelle Gibbons, AIM Director-General. “An initiative like this can only thrive with the wide support of different key stakeholders in terms of expertise, but of course also financial support. Collaboration is the way forward to achieve the EU’s circular economy goals and we are confident that this technology has the potential to drive a truly circular economy for packaging.”

“Recycling is a key pillar that must be invested in to advance a circular economy in plastic waste. The Alliance is excited to support the scaling of this project in its next phase of progress, in line with our mission to end plastic waste in the environment,” continued Jacob Duer, President, and CEO of the Alliance. “As testing continues, we know there will be many things to solve along the way, but with strong collaboration of our public and private sector partners, we believe intelligent sorting can be a new frontier that could help dramatically improve plastic waste management.”

The two machine vendors, Pellenc ST and Tomra, together with the selected digital watermarks technology provider Digimarc, are developing add-on modules for their detection sorting units to be combined with existing NIR (near infra-red) sorters.

With modernization, we need a smart approach to our plastic waste. With this revolutionary, developers advance one step closer to precision classification and sorting of plastic packaging waste through digital watermarks, with the potential to revolutionize the sorting and recycling method of plastic packaging.

For more details: www.digitalwatermarks.eu

Innovative Masterbatches Supplier

JJ Plastalloy was established in 1995 as a global leader, with a maximum manufacturing and developing master batches with a volume of 60,000 metric tons per year. JJ Plastalloy is an award-winning manufacturer ISO/TS 16949:2009, ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OHSAS 18001:2007 certifications, Economic Times Award 2019/2020/2021 are some of those awards JJ Plastalloy has been honored with.

JJ Plastalloy is a versatile manufacturer with key products like Colour Masterbatches, Additive Masterbatches, White Masterbatches, Black Masterbatches, Talc Masterbatches, Fibre Masterbatches, Calcium Carbonate Masterbatches, Modifier Masterbatches, and Polypropylene Compounds, with an extended range. Though out JJ Plastalloy had been exporting to over 30 countries across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.

JJ Plastalloy has a global network for supplying raw materials that consistently delivers globally. The company mainly focuses on Quality, Cost, and Delivery to ensure reliability, sustainability, and profitability for its customers. With a hard focus on in-house research and development (R&D), JJ Plastalloy has built a state-of-the-art infrastructure operated by 5 in-house scientists. Precocious equipment, specialized research facilities and a robust ERP system enable continuous innovation in uniform standards and efficient services. JJ Plastalloy’s end-to-end manufacturing, ERP and distribution system enables it to efficiently and effectively fulfill the apt demands of its clients at competitive pricing.

With environmental sustainability as a key priority, the company has designed its entire process to minimize environmental impact and implemented several initiatives for reducing its carbon footprint. Following thorough recycling and waste allocation process, the minimum waste is disposed of.

“How wonderful it is that nobody waits a single moment before starting to improve the world”

In times like this when companies are competitive and grasp any opportunity for the global establishment, JJ Plastalloy Stands with the notion #Makeinindia. With no compromise in quality, with process excellence and digital transformation. JJ Plastalloy produces optimal designs and priced masterbatches that ensure reliability, sustainability, and profitability for customers.

For more details: www.jjplastalloy.com

Harvard’s Eardrum-Restoring Phonograft Enters Commercial Development

The technology is now entering commercial development. Driven to make the innovations available to patients, entrepreneurial members of the research team launched a startup company, Beacon Bio, with an exclusive license from Harvard’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) to commercialize the PhonoGraft innovations co-owned by Harvard and Mass General Brigham. Beacon Bio was acquired this summer by California-based Desktop Health, a healthcare business within Desktop Metal Inc. that focuses on new 3D printing and biofabrication solutions for personalized medicine. Nicole Black, Ph.D. ’20, CEO of Beacon Bio, will continue to lead the platform as Vice President of Biomaterials and Innovation at Desktop Health.

The PhonoGraft device is a 3D-printed, biocompatible graft that could be implanted to repair a damaged eardrum. If its clinical advancement is victorious, the PhonoGraft technology could alleviate the pain, drainage, and hearing loss associated with eardrum perforations that affect millions of individuals worldwide.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have Beacon Bio become a part of the Desktop Health team, and to see these innovations advance so far from their earliest days in the lab,” said Black, who is a co-inventor of the PhonoGraft technology and spearheaded its development at Harvard and MEE. “The general support, manufacturing expertise, and regulatory expertise of an established company will be key to bringing the PhonoGraft platform to patients and to developing a regenerative medicine platform around the technology.”

The researchers at Harvard and MEE created the PhonoGraft technology to utilize a novel biomaterial-based approach that guides the regeneration of native eardrum tissue. Its 3D-printed structure mimics the structure of a normal eardrum and effectively stimulates the tissue’s self-healing characteristics, as demonstrated in animal models. The team believes the PhonoGraft material technology – unlike other methods – could potentially enable permanent repair by first closely mimicking and then restoring the eardrum’s sound-conducting mechanical features and barrier functions.

To keep up their momentum, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold, the founders of Beacon Bio joined the Harvard Innovation lab (i-Lab), which provides help to fledgling entrepreneurs of early-stage life science or biotech ventures, in the form of fundraising advice, market research, VC relationships, and educational seminars. Beacon Bio was named the $25,000 winner for the Health & Life Sciences Track in the 2021 Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge, held annually by the i-Lab to reward promising translational initiatives that push the boundaries of their fields. In addition, the team participated in the Mass MEDIC IGNITE ManTech accelerator program, gaining valuable insight into the medical device industry through targeted mentorship and workshops. Their participation in the IGNITE program culminated in winning a runner-up prize at the 2021 MD&M BIOME Digital virtual pitch competition.

While the startup team was about to complete its path to independence, Desktop Metal expressed interest in Lewis’ lab and work – which led to an introduction to Beacon Bio. The license now granted to Desktop Metal by Harvard OTD, as a consequence of the startup’s acquisition, includes access to intellectual property covering certain 3D printing inks as well as artificial tympanic membrane devices. Together with Black, Lewis, Kozin, and Remenschneider, seven other researchers from Harvard SEAS, the Wyss Institute, and MEE had contributed as inventors, reflecting the collaborative effort from the earliest days of the project.

For more details: www.yss.harvard.edu

First-Of-Its-Kind Plant-Based Bra Cup Obtained From Sugarcane That Is Accessible And Sustainable

A new line of sustainable intimates launches currently introducing the first-ever plant-based bra cup sourced from Brazilian sugarcane. Offered exclusively at Walmart kindly is on a mission to make sustainability accessible to everyone. Its product line features a wide range of sustainable bras and underwear made from recycled materials, and a promise to never make consumers choose between function, planet, or price. The line will be sold across 3,300 Walmart retail stores and online at Walmart.

“Real sustainability does not exist without accessibility. When selecting a retail partner, Walmart was a no-brainer for us. We’re thrilled to bring the world’s first plant-based bra cup to market, and humbled by the opportunity to speak to Walmart’s wide and diverse audience,” says Yossi Nasser, CEO. “It’s important to us that kindly is known not only for quality products, but more for creating a movement towards a more eco-friendly and attainable lifestyle for all.”

“In my 40 plus years working in the industry, this was the most challenging project I’ve worked on – and it certainly feels the most rewarding, ” says Eve Bastug, Chief Product Officer. “It took us three years to work towards a cup that is over 80% plant-based. There is still work to be done but our team is taking the steps to create a more sustainable future with beautifully crafted products that people can feel good about wearing.”

This will be launching with two styles of bras (available in sizes 34A-40DD), three styles of bralettes (available in sizes S-3XL), as well as thongs, hipsters, and boy shorts (available in sizes XS-3XL) in both seamless and micro fabrication. The line will retail between $11-$14 USD.

“At Walmart, we constantly look for opportunities to develop products with a commitment toward sustainability,” said Denise Incandela, Executive Vice President, Apparel and Private Brands, Walmart U.S. “Our goal was to develop an exclusive bra that is made with the planet in mind, and Gelmart worked tirelessly to engineer a game-changing innovation for the intimates category that provides our customers a ground breaking bra cup made from sugarcane.”

It’s one of the biggest evolutions towards modernized and futuristic clothing, a blend of recycled nylon, spandex, elastic and sugarcane to create revolutionary products. This collection has been in development for more than three years, having undergone close to 30 iterations of trials, testing molding and wear tests.  

For more details: www.gelmart.com

Gea’s New-Generation Valve Control Tops Enhance Operational Safety

The enhancement of automatic setup greatly simplifies the installation and reuses of valves are some of the features performed by new Gea T.Vis. 

The digital valve control tops such as the T.Vis M-20 will be indispensable key components in processing plants. “We are already bringing elements of the valve of the future to fruition. This reflects the growing demand among manufacturers for connectivity, handling, and process diagnostics across their entire production lines,” says Bernd Porath, Product Manager for Valve Automation at Gea. Customers are required to commission plants ever earlier, lines often run at full capacity, and product changes are made so rapidly that valves are subjected to pressure surges and vibration. “That means plants today are increasingly exposed to even higher stress. Our Gea T.Vis M-20 counteracts this thanks to its shock-resistant design and built-in sensor technology. This helps operators ensure plant availability and quality through automatic, self-learning, reproducible process controls.”

The Quick-Setup takes care of the entire commissioning process – including self-learning status confirmation by the feedback systems – without the need for specially trained personnel. All that operators are required to do is assign the electrical and pneumatic connections.

The built-in contact-free path measuring system identifies its location with a precision of 50 µ – an extremely higher degree of accuracy than would be possible manually, says Porath. Under process conditions – following maintenance or replacement of the control top – the electronics automatically initialize the feedback systems.

The ease of installation has been confirmed in field tests at Arla Foods and Uckermärker Milch. “Our customers were astounded and very pleased. The M-20 can be installed completely intuitively, without needing to rely on judgment or experience by the operating staff. We have considerably reduced the burden on operators by eliminating errors caused by different users entering different settings,” reports Porath. The modules were instantly up and running at the customers’ sites and have now been functioning smoothly for months.

 “The path measuring system and control electronics are located on a combination printed circuit board, which is no longer encapsulated but openly integrated into the housing, as with our most sophisticated A-15 control top,” explains Porath. All components are protected by the proven T-Vis housing technology at the highest level against dust and moisture applying the IP69k standard.

The innovative Gea T.Vis M-20 control top is optimized for most applications without added monitoring elements. A’s butterfly valves, single and double-seat valves, as well as valves with special functions and product recovery systems, can be fitted with the control top, including virtually the entire Gea Varivent and Gea Aseptomag valve series for hygienic and aseptic valves, respectively.  If higher than two feedbacks and further monitoring functions via an IO-Link connection is required for double-seat valves with seat lifting, Gea’s portfolio offers the Gea T.Vis A-15 premium solution.

Gea T.Vis has made new ground for valve technology development; Product Manager Bernd Porath reports “Plant uptime, robustness, and repeatability of processes and their components are all part of the overarching theme of sustainability, which is a huge concern for the industry. Optimally configured, durable process technology naturally plays a part in the smooth operation of our customers’ plants. We aim to show how digital control tops with sophisticated automated functions and feedback options can contribute to an improved climate footprint. We intend to capture additional functions within our valve range – from control to process diagnostics and predictive maintenance.”

For more details: www.gea.com

Evanesce To Debut Innovative Plant-Based Packaging Technologies At Pack Expo Las Vegas

Evanesce, a sustainable technology innovator, driven to accelerate the adoption of sustainable and economically viable packaging solutions, will reveal its groundbreaking sustainable packaging technology at PACK EXPO Las Vegas. Addressing the growing plastic pandemic, scientists and experts at Evanesce have engineered a patented technology that produces cost-competitive, 100% plant-based, and 100% compostable sustainable packaging. The leading packaging industry event will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from September 27 to 29, 2021.

During PACK EXPO, the company will showcase its two packaging technologies and its vast range of packaging products. Its booth will feature the patented Evanesce Molded Starch technology along with its high-quality line of PLA (Polylactic Acid) compostable products, including straws, hot and cold cups, and lids, plates, bowls, cutlery, gloves, and resalable bags. Booth visitors will meet the top executive team and experience their plant-based packaging solutions in person.

“Our innovative technologies are designed to replace single-use plastics and Styrofoam in packaging and will be a game-changer for the industry. We’re most excited about launching our revolutionary patented Molded Starch technology at one of the biggest packaging events in the world,” stated Douglas Horne, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Evanesce. “This innovation in material science has the power to truly transform sustainable packaging. This event offers us an ideal opportunity to launch our innovative packaging solutions, showcase the wide range of products we offer, and connect with industry leaders on collaborative partnership opportunities.”

Now in use by leading foodservice companies, restaurant chains, and convenience stores, Evanesce’s PLA products are on par or cost-competitive to other alternatives, offer significantly improved durability, and are BPI certified commercially compostable. The patented Evanesce Molded Starch Technology produces 100% compostable molded packaging material at almost half the cost of other eco-friendly alternatives available in the market. Production of Molded Starch products including meal trays, meat trays, containers, and cups are expected in early 2022.

For more details: www.evanescepackaging.com

Integrating Smart Functions Such As Display And Ambient Lighting And Touch Control Using Covestro’s Direct Coating Technology

The biggest crisis for car manufacture and their suppliers facing the challenge of integrating smart function such as display and ambient lighting and touch control in addition to wide range of products as cost-effectively as possible in to achieve broad acceptance in industry.

How can intelligent surfaces provide more design freedom and functionality in car interiors and still be produced cost-effectively? Covestro investigated this important question together with a team of three industry partners: Votteler Lackfabrik GmbH & Co. KG, laser texture specialist Reichle Technology Center and Merck KGaA as a manufacturer of pearl effect pigments.

The result is an effective concept for the production of interior parts with seamless, intelligent surfaces using Covestro’s Direct Coating technology. The coated component is produced in two steps using a polyurethane reaction injection molding (PU-RIM) process. Car manufacturers and their suppliers face the challenge of integrating smart functions such as display and ambient lighting and touch control, in addition to a wide range of visual and haptic surface properties. The goal is car interiors that can easily serve as a lounge, workspace and driver cockpit. In this way, an environment can be created in the car that combines comfort and infotainment with a feeling of safety. The goal is car interiors that can easily serve as a lounge, workspace and driver cockpit. In this way, an environment can be created in the car that combines comfort and infotainment with a feeling of safety. The goal is car interiors that can easily serve as a lounge, workspace and driver cockpit. In this way, an environment can be created in the car that combines comfort and infotainment with a feeling of safety.

In implementing the innovative solution, Votteler drew on the manufacturing expertise of Reichle Technologiezentrum GmbH, which operates Europe’s largest laser texturing site. The company provided laser-textured PU-RIM molds for the project. Covestro supplied process technology know-how, coating raw materials from the Desmodur and Desmophen ranges without solvent additives, and Makrolon and Bayblend polycarbonate plastics, which proved to be a key to the project’s success. Effect pigments from Merck KGaA can be used to achieve various color and transparency effects.

The direct coasting process, the plastic substrate in first produced in an initial cavity by injective molding. The outcome part is the transferred to a second minimally max mold .The cavity between the substrate and laser-engraved RIM mold corresponds also offers advantages .Over conventional coating separate dying step.  

For more details: www.covestro.com

Specialty Chemicals Platform Chemberry Launches Home Care, Building On Personal Care Success

After wowing Personal Care R&D and formulation teams for the past year, and handling thousands of searches each month, the innovative chemical ingredients web platform, Chemberry, is expanding into the Home Care segment. Launched in 2018, Chemberry already lists more than 30,000 Personal Care ingredients and suppliers in one place, saving users time by eliminating the need to manually search for products across thousands of different websites. Now, 3,000 Home Care ingredients from various suppliers have been added to the database, enabling buyers in that industry to easily find the ingredients they need.

Timo von Bargen, Head of the Chemberry platform, says that it is one of the most comprehensive sources of ingredients for these segments available online, featuring all relevant chemical suppliers and their products. “Chemberry indexes chemical ingredients ranging from active ingredients through to colorants, emulsifiers and UV filters using the most comprehensive, verified, and up-to-date product and certification information available. Feedback from our Personal Care users has been very positive and we look forward to providing Home Care formulators with the same fast and flexible functionality combined with superior service.”

Chemberry automatically extracts and organizes detailed product information from existing supplier websites and one-of-a-kind cross-referencing, creating an intelligent search and compare platform. Priscilla Rolver, Organic skincare formulator at Enjoy Divine Nature believes this makes Chemberry second to none, “Chemberry is an amazing new platform, like Google for formulators!”

Built with state of the art security and privacy standards, users of the platform also have access to a trends dashboard and the latest market information and updates, helping to inform buying decisions and accelerate innovation. “Around the world consumers are demanding natural ingredients and Chemberry was the first ever tool that gave me both a deep insight into this trend as well as an overview of the products fulfilling these criteria,” said Nicolas Lasbistes, Technical Innovation Leader Dermatology, Bayer Consumer Health.

Not only can formulation and R&D teams benefit from having thousands of ingredients at their fingertips, but personal care, and now home care ingredient suppliers, can use Chemberry to market their products and generate leads more efficiently. Suppliers have access to a ranked leads dashboard and they can also access analytics about how searchers are interacting with their products. These features can be tested in the form of a free trial and accessed permanently starting with a pay-per-lead model.

For more details: www.chemberry.com