An initiative to support US companies in developing and scaling new products and manufacturing technologies more quickly has been launched by the Argonne National Laboratory, in collaboration with the US Department of Energy’s Office of Critical Materials and Energy Innovation (CMEI).
The new initiative, called the National Science-at-Scale Collaborative, brings together industry, government and the US’ national laboratories to “address complex challenges in critical materials and chemical manufacturing in the US.” In addition, the initiative supports CMEI’s broader mission to strengthen the US’ critical minerals supply chains and accelerate next-generation energy technologies.
Argonne will work with industry partners on projects that focus on moving promising technologies from research to commercial production more quickly. Argonne’s Materials Engineering Research facility will make available advanced computer modelling, AI and rapid synthesis tools as well as pilot-scale manufacturing systems to help companies test and scale production processes.
This development follows on from an industry roundtable, which was chaired by CMEI, where leaders from chemicals and critical materials sectors discussed manufacturing challenges and opportunities for collaboration. Participants at this event included Albermarle, BASF North America, Chemours, Dow, and Exxon Mobil.
Commenting on the initiative Paul Kearns, Director of Argonne National Laboratory said: “American manufacturing has an opportunity to lead the next generation of innovation in critical materials and chemical processing. The National Science-at-Scale Collaborative will help connect discovery, engineering and deployment in ways the strengthen US competitiveness and advance our economic security.”
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