All posts tagged: The Innovation Platform Issue 19

The most important metal you’ve probably never heard of

The most important metal you’ve probably never heard of

Published by skeptic

From industry-changing technology to sourcing and exploration, First Tellurium is helping to spur a revolution for the critical metal tellurium. For decades, tellurium sat quietly in the background of industry, serving as a speciality metal for alloys, rubber vulcanisation and ceramics. In the early 1990s, researchers began using tellurium to improve solar panels. Today, cadmium-telluride (CdTe)-based solar cells represent the world’s leading thin-film photovoltaic technology, led by Ohio-based First Solar Inc. Beyond solar power, new applications for tellurium are ushering in revolutionary advances in sectors such as thermoelectric devices, lithium batteries, medicine and more. The metal has distinct and valuable properties, especially as a semiconductor. At least five countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan, have designated tellurium as a critical and strategic metal, and they are looking to source more of it domestically. First Tellurium Corp in Canada and the United States First Tellurium is the only resource company in North America focused on exploring for tellurium. The company’s two key mineral projects – Deer Horn in British Columbia and Klondike in Colorado …

SMR designs suitable for Sweden’s future electricity production

SMR designs suitable for Sweden’s future electricity production

Published by skeptic

Work performed within the ANItA project identifies SMR designs suitable for electricity production in Sweden and points out the need for further research. In one of the ongoing initial projects within ANItA, a Swedish national competence centre for nuclear power technology, work is performed to identify small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) designs that are suitable for Sweden’s electricity generation in the relatively near future. The aim is, furthermore, to point out novelties compared with the current Swedish reactor fleet that might need further investigation. Suitable SMR designs SMRs are considered an option for adding new nuclear capacity in Sweden. The SMRs can be used for different purposes. In addition to electricity generation, the heat produced can be used for district heating to heat homes and commercial buildings or be supplied to various industrial processes, including hydrogen production. All these applications are investigated within ANItA. Various types of SMRs have been proposed, some based on the technology of current nuclear reactors and others intended for use in future Generation IV nuclear power systems. The types based …

Common European Data Spaces and Robust AI for Transparent Public Governance

Common European Data Spaces and Robust AI for Transparent Public Governance

Published by skeptic

CEDAR’s mission is to create high-value datasets to enhance and combine the existing CEDS and develop solutions for a more transparent public governance in Europe. CEDAR is a 36-month Horizon Europe-funded project, started in January 2024, that involves 31 partners with interdisciplinary knowledge and whose key goal is to promote transparent and accountable public governance in Europe. By sharing high-quality datasets, developing secure connectors for European data repositories, and employing innovative technologies for efficient big data management and analysis, CEDAR aims to promote better, evidence-based decision-making, combat corruption, and reduce fraud in public administration. What the CEDAR project will do CEDAR will identify, collect, fuse, harmonise, protect, and share new high-quality datasets. This will involve digitising data from public administration archives and generating synthetic data to improve real-world data quality. The project also aims to harmonise and standardise different public and private data sources into new unified datasets. Furthermore, it seeks to enable fair and secure data access to these datasets and integrate them with Common European Data Spaces available in Europe. CEDAR will develop …

Transforming conventional oil barrels into ‘blue barrels’

Transforming conventional oil barrels into ‘blue barrels’

Published by skeptic

Using its oxy-fuel combustion technology, TriGen Energy is on a mission to produce ‘blue barrels’ to help oil and gas producers transition towards net-zero emissions. In the oil industry, a barrel of oil is denoted by the unit ‘BBL’, representing 42 gallons or roughly 159 litres. The term BBL dates back to the 1860s when oil was transported in various containers, including beer, fish, and molasses barrels. By the 1870s, the 42-gallon wooden barrel became the standard, allowing for evaporation and leakage during transport. Standard Oil further solidified this standard by producing blue 42-gallon barrels for petroleum, giving rise to the term BBL. Just as ‘blue hydrogen’ refers to hydrogen produced via steam reforming of natural gas with CO2 capture, we might envision ‘blue barrels’ of oil – oil whose equivalent CO2 emissions are ‘pre-captured’ during production. This concept could eliminate the need for additional, distributed CO2 capture in downstream processes, enabling zero-emission products for consumers. TriGen Energy’s oxy-fuel combustion technology makes producing ‘blue barrels’ technically and commercially viable. This approach offers a transitional pathway …