TPT November 2020

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

layers, can make a mask uncomfortable to wear as well as making it harder for the wearer to breathe, and studies indicate that this has discouraged the wearing of masks when not a legal requirement. The IUPUI researchers suggest that embedded copper oxide nanoparticles add a kill layer; if droplets travel from one surface of the mask to another the copper will disable the virus en route. Mr Agarwal said: ”To make any fabric into a mask or filter we have to provide the nanostructure, and we can put that nanostructure on a roll-to-roll printing machine with the fibres at nanoscale. We are using electrospinning, using the electric field to spray the nanofibres on to the fabric.” The team is now looking to use its findings to make lighter, stronger, and cheaper composites with the ultimate aim of offering a wearable and safer alternative face mask to the general public. London Metal Exchange is making plans for a low carbon aluminium platform in 2021 The London Metal Exchange (LME) will give its support sustainable metal production with a spot trading platform for low carbon aluminium, and will provide a voluntary digital register, known as LMEpassport, where producers can record the carbon-related details of their metal. “Interested producers or metal owners could input the environmental criteria of their brands, certification by an industry scheme, recycled content, use of carbon offsets, or water or tailings management schemes,” the LME explained. The LME is considering similar schemes for other metals, but has begun with aluminium because power is a major component – up to 40 per cent – of the smelting process. Energy intensive aluminium will be essential for the transition to a lower carbon economy, and is valued by the car industry for its lighter weight and recyclability. The LME proposals, detailed in a paper to LME members, include the launch in early 2021 of a cash-settled contract for aluminium scrap generated by the US drinks industry, and scrap steel contracts for Taiwan and India. A lithium contract will be launched at the same time. There is, as yet, no industry agreement on how metals will transition to a low carbon economy, but the exchange is hoping to start the conversation: “We are going to provide routes where buyers and sellers of metal with particular sustainability characteristics can come together,” said LME chief executive, Matthew Chamberlain. The spot platform will facilitate price discovery (the process through which an asset's price is set by settling a price that both buyers and sellers find acceptable - largely driven by supply and demand) and trading in sustainably sourced metal. “This online auction-style solution will deliver access...on a voluntary basis to those who would like to buy or sell low carbon aluminium,” the exchange said.

Mater ials and metals A call to EV manufacturers to help secure and stabilise the lithium industry Paul Graves, chief executive officer of lithium producer Livent Corporation, has called for the electric vehicle industry to pay more for lithium: “…to spur investment and prevent future supply crunches” of the essential metal. Consumer demand for EVs was expected to increase sharply this year, but the slowing of sales and production has caused an over-supply of lithium. Prices fell quickly, prompting some producers, including Livent and Albemarle Corporation, to suspend their planned expansion projects. The resulting lower price has encouraged EV manufacturers to renegotiate supply agreements while demanding higher production. Paul Graves termed the behaviour, “voodoo economics” adding: “If you don’t have a rational conversation with me about what the [lithium] price needs to be for me to invest, then I don’t invest.” Livent halted a multi-year expansion project in Argentina, where restarting will be an expensive, and long-winded, process: “It [will] be several years before any new production [comes] online,” Graves said. “If every EV company took its 2023 plans … to the lithium market today, they’d probably get only about 15 percent of their needed supply.” With both battery makers and auto manufacturers looking to strike deals with lithium producers while the prices are low, Graves believes it is in everyone’s interests to commit to higher prices for long-term contracts: “Otherwise, when this does turn, and it will, this will flip the other way and lithium producers will demand higher prices,” he warned. Research has shown that a face mask of two-ply tightly woven cotton material, sandwiching a layer of chiffon or silk to add an electrostatic barrier, can reduce the passage of 98 per cent of infectious droplets. Now, researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Integrated Nanosystems Development Institute are examining an additional defence in the form of metallic copper oxide nanoparticles. Copper has long been known for germicidal and antimicrobial properties, and any virus that lands on a copper surface will be instantly disabled, IUPUI's Mangilal Agarwal explained. He believes that many consumer-level masks, as opposed to clinical grade masks, have an insufficiently tight weave. However, a tighter weave, or the addition of further fabric Taking a closer look at copper, in the interests of better PPE

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NOVEMBER 2020