Government perspectives

Advances ‘for the benefit of the nation’

A conversation with Chris Heckle, director of Argonne National Laboratory’s Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center

When your origin story begins with the University of Chicago’s work on the Manhattan Project,⁷ what do you do for an encore? Argonne National Laboratory’s answer is “to make an impact—from the atomic to the human to the global scale…on questions and experiments too large for any one institution to do by itself.”

Argonne National Laboratory is one of the 17 U.S. Department of Energy laboratories in the United States. Its 3,400 scientists work on projects with cumulative funding of $1 billion.

In 2022, Argonne formed a new center called the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center (MMIC). MMIC is but one center within the large national laboratory structure at Argonne, but its focus is manufacturing, particularly in the materials and chemicals processing spaces. Specifically, it serves as the first point of contact between private industry and Argonne’s science and research capabilities, all with an eye toward solving complex problems and assisting manufacturers with their clean energy initiatives.

In less than two years, MMIC has made significant progress in connecting Argonne’s scientists to industry and building strong collaborations between staff members, contractors, visiting scientists, and successful applicants who request access to the labs. Chris Heckle, director of MMIC, offers the example of university students or corporate researchers or engineers who need access to Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source, “which is used to shoot photons, X-rays, and then there can be a lot of characterization in the beam.” Access may be offered at no cost if the applicants plan to publish their results; if not, Argonne charges them an amount equal to cost recovery.

An emphasis on functionality over fantasy

Argonne’s overarching objectives encompass completion of world-class research, education, problem-solving, and strategic initiatives, but not “cool inventions that never see the light of day,” Heckle says.
“They want things to be deployed so that somebody can take advantage of that knowledge for the benefit of the nation,” she explains.

Profitability benchmarks do not figure into the equation because while Argonne’s commitments span technology invention, development, and scale-up, the lab does not commercialize or market the fruits of its R&D. Rather, it licenses intellectual property, and those licenses can be a source of funding for reinvestment in further exploratory work. But there is no sales component to the lab’s activities.

Supporting national sustainability priorities

In keeping with Department of Energy priorities, teams at Argonne have been pursuing innovations in industrial efficiency and decarbonization, with a focus on certain sectors: chemicals, food and beverage (as an outgrowth of agricultural), pulp and paper, cement and concrete, ceramics, and steel. Initially, glass was not an industry of focus, but that is in the process of changing, and the Department of Energy is now investing more funding in helping the glass industry to decarbonize—for example, by seeking methods of melting glass with the use of renewable fuels.

The emphasis on sustainability extends to more efforts in the area of circularity.

“A huge part of circularity is reuse of waste, such as plastic waste that is upcycled into lubricants and oil. That is one aspect of circularity we’re working on,” Heckle says. “Another aspect is lithium-ion battery recycling. Cell phone batteries have been dying for years, but car batteries, large volumes of lithium-ion batteries, are going to start to head toward the landfill. What can and should we be doing about that?” Argonne is pursuing the answer to that question in partnership with other national labs, industry, and academia via its ReCell Center.

In October 2023, the Department of Energy’s Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office announced the allocation of $2 million in funding for “eight projects to drive innovation in lithium-ion battery rejuvenation, recycling, and reuse.”⁸ The announcement noted, “The ultimate goal is to reduce the environmental impact of battery production while ensuring a reliable and sustainable supply of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, renewable energy storage, and consumer electronics.”

Bringing AI/ML into the R&D equation

What impact will artificial intelligence and machine learning have on Argonne’s research and development across all its areas of focus?

“The lab is one of a few large supercomputer facilities across the U.S. and the world. Our most recent supercomputer, which is just coming online and being fully tested, is specifically built for artificial intelligence algorithms,” Heckle says.

Another area of focus for AI and machine learning is the Minerals to Materials Supply Chain Facility (METALLIC), which was announced in April 2024 to “establish an innovation ecosystem under a virtual roof that leverages the nation’s leading capabilities for accelerating and de-risking critical minerals and materials technology development and commercialization.”⁹

The $75 million facility is “designed to support the public and private sector in doing the research, development, demonstration, and deployment needed for a resilient, diverse and secure domestic supply of critical minerals and materials needed for clean energy technologies.”

Heckle notes that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been pushing a national strategy for artificial intelligence, and one of MMIC’s associate lab directors, Rick Stevens, testified on Capitol Hill about artificial intelligence.

“So, we’re a thought leader in the use of AI for materials discovery and materials optimization, and we’re working to embed AI in a lot of the things we do, such as developing algorithms in conjunction with equipment to be able to achieve particular product targets,” Heckle says.

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Get involved with MMIC

A list of materials available for licensing from Argonne can be found at https://www.anl.gov/partnerships/materials, and a full list of technologies available for licensing can be found at https://www.anl.gov/partnerships/available-for-licensing. Also on the licensing page, a partnership proposal inquiry form is available, plus guidelines for completing the inquiry.

A nine-minute video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CoyU6OmEa0 provides information about how the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center “partners business with science and research.”

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Fostering visibility and sustainability in glass: An inside look at the Glass Manufacturing Industry Council

The Glass Manufacturing Industry Council (GMIC) describes itself as a “partner, ally, and advocate” that represents the glass sector’s interests to governments and trade organizations, sponsors technical programs and other educational initiatives, and supports members with industry intelligence. Its objectives include promoting and facilitating the use of glass and positioning the industry to better meet sustainability demands.

Each year, in partnership with Alfred University and The American Ceramic Society, GMIC organizes the Glass Problems Conference and Symposium. This annual conference provides a platform for leading experts and manufacturers to share information on new innovations and methods to deal with challenges the industry faces with manufacturing glass.

This year’s conference tracks—projects, refractory, machine learning, melting and forming, recycling, and decarbonization—reflect the sector’s current and emerging concerns. Among the presentation highlights were

• “Improved refractories with excellent glass properties and low carbon footprint,” Andrea Kazmierczak, R&D project leader, Saint-Gobain SEFPRO
• “Effect of different bonding phases on the hydration resistance of regenerator checker bricks,” Samantha Garnier, research engineer, HarbisonWalker International
• “Use of ML to utilize 30 simulation, field data, or fusion of the two to create digital twins,” Vitor Lopes, senior product manager, Ansys Inc.
• “Glass melting fundamentals: Understanding batch reactions, transformations, and moving towards a decarbonized future with a heavy emphasis on recycling,” Charmayne Lonergan, assistant professor, Missouri University of Science and Technology
• “Electrification of the glass industry,” Caio Barca Bragatto, assistant professor of physics, Coe College
  “Autonomous Al—Building Al for control and advisory,” Chris Conry, group manager, RoviSys
• “Glass recycling: Building infrastructure,” Kyle Sword, R&D director of North America, NSG Pilkington
• “Developing a more sustainable glass recycling system,” Steve Whettingsteel, CEO and managing director, Krysteline Technologies Ltd.
• “Three European projects for a systemic approach to the decarbonization of glass production,” Ernesto Cattaneo, head of R&D, Stara Glass S.p.A.

GMIC also publishes the Glass Manufacturing Industry Report every three years. The next edition of this report, which provides “a comprehensive, up-to-date reference source for intelligence on the glass manufacturing industry,” is slated to be published later this year.

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