Brent Balinski
24 March 2024 07:38
What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to this site were reading.
5) Australian Vanadium produces first battery electrolyte
Australian Vanadium has successfully produced its first high purity vanadium electrolyte, ready for use in vanadium redox flow batteries.
Production follows the commissioning of the company’s vanadium electrolyte manufacturing facility in Perth in December.
Independent analysis of the vanadium electrolyte produced at the facility shows that the impurities in the electrolyte were well within limits typically expected by vanadium flow battery manufacturers.
4) Austal Vietnam to construct passenger cargo vessel
Perth shipbuilder Austal has won a contract for the construction of a 71 metre passenger cargo ferry, which will be built at the company’s Vietnamese shipyard.
Austal Vietnam will design and construct the roll-on roll-off vessel for The Degage Group of French Polynesia in a contract valued at between $30-$40 million.
The steel monohull design, which includes an aluminium superstructure accommodating up to 140 passengers seated and 17 crew, will be the first steel vessel constructed by Austal in Vietnam.
3) Australia to export 100 Boxer armoured vehicles
Australia has consummated its biggest ever defence export deal, with the federal government entering into an agreement to supply Australian-made Boxer armoured vehicles to Germany.
Under the agreement, more than 100 Boxer Heavy Weapon Carrier vehicles will be built by Rheinmetall at its Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence in Redbank, Queensland and exported for use by the German Army in a $1 billion deal.
The agreement, now passed through the German parliament, was foreshadowed in July 2023, and confirmed in an in-principle agreement between Germany and Australia signed during Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to Berlin in July last year.
2) BAE Systems, ASC to construct Australian n-submarines
BAE Systems Australia and submarine builder ASC are the big winners in the federal government’s decision to name the companies that will build SSN‑AUKUS submarines in Adelaide, writes Peter Roberts.
As predicted by @AuManufacturing, BAE Systems and government owned ASC Pty Ltd will work together to establish the complex project and form a collaborative arrangement, which will lead to an incorporated Joint Venture within Australia.
The Joint Venture establishes an enduring partnership to leverage their unique and complementary capabilities, skills, expertise and resources of the two partners to deliver SSN-AUKUS submarines, according to a statement.
1) Fortescue in world first use of ammonia as a marine fuel
Fortescue has become the first to demonstrate the use of ammonia, in combination with diesel in the combustion process, as a marine fuel.
The demonstration, in the Port of Singapore, was achieved by the Singapore-flagged ammonia-powered vessel, the Fortescue Green Pioneer (pictured).
Working with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), government agencies, research institutes, and industry partners, the vessel was loaded with liquid ammonia from an existing ammonia facility at Vopak Banyan Terminal on Jurong Island in Singapore.
And in case you missed our podcast…
In episode 89 of @AuManufacturing Conversations, Josh Hacko from NH Micro tells us about the recent work with ANSTO, how devoting a little time to social media has paid off, the trickiness of finding the right skills for a precision machining operation, and more.
Picture: credit Fortescue