Daily Archives: June 13, 2021

Moshiel BitonContributor

The global economys transition to widespread electrification has increased the demand for longer-lasting and faster-charging batteries across industries including transportation, consumer electronics, medical devices and residential energy storage. While the benefits of this transition are well understood, the reality is that battery innovation hasnt kept pace with societys ambitions.

With reports forecasting a 40% chance that the worlds temperature will rise over the next five years beyond the limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius laid out in the Paris climate agreement, it is clear that theres little time to waste when it comes to creating next-generation batteries, which can easily take another 10 years to fully commercialize.

To meet the increasing pressures to electrify, a completely novel approach to building batteries is the only way to scale rechargeable batteries quickly enough to curb greenhouse-gas emissions globally and avoid the worst-case scenario for the climate crisis.

Over the last few decades, battery experts, automakers, Tier 1 suppliers, investors and others looking to electrify have spent billions of dollars globally on creating next-generation batteries by focusing predominantly on battery chemistry. Yet the industry is still grappling with two major fundamental technical challenges that are stunting the proliferation of batteries:

Battery researchers have championed the solid-state battery as the holy grail of battery technology due to its ability to achieve high energy density and increased safety. However, until recently, the technology has fallen short in practice.

Solid-state batteries have significantly higher energy density and are potentially safer because they do not use flammable liquid electrolytes. However, the technology is still nascent and has a long way to go to achieve commercialization. The manufacturing process for solid-state batteries has to be improved to lower costs, especially for an automotive industry that aims to achieve aggressive cost reductions as low as $50/kWh in the coming years.

The other substantial challenge to implementing solid-state technology is the limitation of total energy density that can be stored in the cathodes per unit of volume. The obvious solution to this dilemma would be to have batteries with thicker cathodes. However, a thicker cathode would reduce the mechanical and thermal stability of the battery. That instability leads to delamination (a mode of failure where a material fractures into layers), cracks and separation all of which cause premature battery failure. In addition, thicker cathodes limit diffusion and decrease power. The result is that there is a practical limit to the thickness of cathodes, which restricts the power of anodes.

In most cases, companies that are developing silicon-based batteries are mixing up to 30% silicon with graphite to boost energy density. The batteries made by Sila Nanotechnologies are an illustrative example of using a silicon mix to increase energy density. Another approach is to use 100% pure silicon anodes, which are limited by very thin electrodes and high production costs, to generate even higher energy density, like Amprius approach.

While silicon provides considerably greater energy density, there is a significant drawback that has limited its adoption until now: The material undergoes volume expansion and shrinkage while charging and discharging, limiting battery life and performance. This leads to degradation issues that manufacturers need to solve before commercial adoption. Despite those challenges, some silicon-based batteries are already being deployed commercially, including in the automotive sector, where Tesla leads in silicon adoption for EVs.

Advances to battery architecture and cell design show significant promise for unlocking improvements with existing and emerging battery chemistries.

Probably the most notable from a mainstream perspective is Teslas biscuit tin battery cell that the company unveiled at its 2020 Battery Day. Its still using lithium-ion chemistry, but the company removed the tabs in the cell that act as the positive and negative connection points between the anode and cathode and the battery casing, and instead use a shingled design within the cell. This change in design helps reduce manufacturing costs while boosting driving range and removes many of the thermal barriers that a cell can encounter when fast-charging with DC electricity.

Transitioning away from a traditional 2D electrode structure to a 3D structure is another approach that is gaining traction in the industry. The 3D structure yields high energy and high power performance in both the anode and cathode for every battery chemistry.

Although still in the R&D and testing phases, 3D electrodes have achieved two times higher accessible capacity, 50% less charging time and 150% longer lifetime for high-performance products at market-competitive prices. Therefore, in order to advance battery capabilities to unlock the full potential of energy storage for a range of applications, it is critical to develop solutions that emphasize altering the physical structure of batteries.

Its not just performance improvements that will win the battery race, but perfecting production and cost reduction as well. To capture a considerable share of the ballooning battery market that is projected to reach $279.7 billion by 2027, countries around the world must find ways to achieve low-cost battery manufacturing at scale. Prioritizing drop-in solutions and innovative production methods that can be incorporated with existing assembly lines and materials will be key.

The Biden administrations American Jobs Plan highlights the importance of domestic battery production to the countrys goal of being a leader in electrification while meeting ambitious carbon reduction targets. Commitments like these will play a key role in establishing who can maintain a critical competitive edge in the battery space and take the largest share of the $162 billion global EV market.

Ultimately, the winning technologies in the race toward total electrification will be the ones that have the most significant impact on performance, lowered costs and compatibility with existing manufacturing infrastructure. By taking a holistic approach and focusing more on innovating cell design while also fine-tuning leading chemistries, we can achieve the next steps in battery performance and rapid commercialization that the world desperately needs.

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Widespread electrification requires us to rethink battery technology - TechCrunch

Jet packs, robot maids, and flying cars were all promises for the 21st century. We got mechanized, autonomous vacuum cleaners instead. Now a team of Penn State researchers are exploring the requirements for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles and designing and testing potential battery power sources.

I think flying cars have the potential to eliminate a lot of time and increase productivity and open the sky corridors to transportation, said Chao-Yang Wang, holder of the William E. Diefender Chair of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Electrochemical Engine Center, Penn State. But electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles are very challenging technology for the batteries.

The researchers defined the technical requirements for flying car batteries and report on a prototype battery on June 7, 2021, in Joule.

Batteries for flying cars need very high energy density so that you can stay in the air, said Wang. And they also need very high power during take-off and landing. It requires a lot of power to go vertically up and down.

The automotive electric vehicle revolution is paving the way for urban air mobility, but people must not be naive in thinking that electric vehicle batteries will suffice for electric flight. The fast-charging requirements, 30x increase in energy throughput, and 3x power requirements demand a new generation of battery. Credit: Eric Rountree, EC Power

Wang notes that the batteries will also need to be rapidly recharged so that there could be high revenue during rush hours. He sees these vehicles having frequent take-offs and landings and recharging quickly and often.

Commercially, I would expect these vehicles to make 15 trips, twice a day during rush hour to justify the cost of the vehicles, said Wang. The first use will probably be from a city to an airport carrying three to four people about 50 miles.

Weight is also a consideration for these batteries as the vehicle will have to lift and land the batteries. Once the eVTOL takes off, on short trips the average speed would be 100 miles per hour and long trips would average 200 miles per hour, according to Wang.

The researchers experimentally tested two energy-dense lithium-ion batteries that can recharge with enough energy for a 50-mile eVTOL trip in five to ten minutes. These batteries could sustain more than 2,000 fast-charges over their lifetime.

Wang and his team used technology they have been working on for electric vehicle batteries. The key is to heat the battery to allow rapid charging without the formation of lithium spikes that damage the battery and are dangerous. It turns out that heating the battery also allows rapid discharge of the energy held in the battery to allow for take offs and landings.

The researchers heat the batteries by incorporating a nickel foil that brings the battery rapidly to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Under normal circumstances, the three attributes necessary for an eVTOL battery work against each other, said Wang. High energy density reduces fast charging and fast charging usually reduces the number of possible recharge cycles. But we are able to do all three in a single battery.

One entirely unique aspect of flying cars is that the batteries must always retain some charge. Unlike cellphone batteries, for example, that work best if fully discharged and recharged, a flying car battery can never be allowed to completely discharge in the air because power is needed to stay in the air and to land. There always needs to be a margin of safety in a flying car battery.

When a battery is empty, internal resistance to charging is low, but the higher the remaining charge, the more difficult it is to push more energy into the battery. Typically, recharging slows as the battery fills. However, by heating the battery, recharging can remain in the five- to ten-minute range.

I hope that the work we have done in this paper will give people a solid idea that we dont need another 20 years to finally get these vehicles, said Wang. I believe we have demonstrated that the eVTOL is commercially viable.

Reference: Challenges and key requirements of batteries for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft by Xiao-Guang Yang, Teng Liu, Shanhai Ge, Eric Rountree and Chao-Yang Wang, 7 June 2021, Joule.DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2021.05.001

Also working on this project were Xiao-Guang Yang and Shanhai Ge, both assistant research professors in mechanical engineering, and Teng Liu, doctoral student in mechanical engineering, all at Penn State; and Eric Roundtree, EC Power, State College, Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Department of Energys Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the U.S. Air Force Small Business Technology Transfer program and the William E. Diefenderfer Endowment funded this research.

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Innovative Battery Technology Puts Flying Cars on the Horizon - SciTechDaily

Intel Corp (INTC.O) is debating a possible offer to buy SiFive Inc, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, a company closely associated with open-source technology that is challenging the rise of Intel's rival, Arm Ltd.

SiFive, a San Mateo, California-based startup, employs several of the creators of RISC-V, an open-source chip technology that is challenging Arm, the British chip technology firm being acquired by Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) for $40 billion. read more Both Arm and SiFive sell intellectual property such as chip designs to others who ultimately produce the chips.

Intel and SiFive both declined to comment.

Bloomberg on Thursday reported Intel's interest, citing a source saying that the Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker is mulling a $2 billion offer. Intel, along with rivals such as Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O), is already an investor in SiFive, which raised $61 million in a funding round led by Korea's SK Hynix (000660.KS).

SiFive is designing computing cores using the RISC-V architecture. While the underlying architecture for those cores is open-source, the specific core designs themselves can be sold.

Purchasing SiFive could give Intel a library of intellectual property it could use both in its own chips and that it could offer to license to future customers as it works to build a business by opening up its chip factories to outsiders. Intel has already said it plans to license out computing cores based on its own proprietary x86 architecture to customers as part of its contract manufacturing business.

But Intel would also gain a software boost. SiFive is also working on making it easier to program to different kinds of computing chips and last year hired Chris Lattner, a prominent Silicon Valley computer scientist.

Lattner spearheaded the creation of the Swift programming language for Apple Inc (AAPL.O) that has become the primary way developers write apps for iPhones. More recently, Lattner oversaw programming language teams for Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Brain and TensorFlow artificial intelligence teams.

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Intel debates buyout of SiFive to bolster chip technology against Arm -source - Reuters

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region, will begin its second annual information technology fair on Wednesday, where local and international tech brands will take part in the four-day event.

The fair, dubbed the Hawler (Erbil) Information Technology Exhibition (HITEX), is expected to be attended by nearly 100 local and international companies from 26 different countries, head organizer Farhang Bradosti told Kurdistan 24 on Friday.

Foreign companies will be arriving from the US, China, the UK, and the United Arab Emirates, he said, adding that the event also embraces nearly 40 small projects from local innovators who will showcase their wares and concepts.

Participating tech businesses and panels will cover the fields of Artificial intelligence, Robotics, Drones, VR/AR, User technology, Smart houses/IoT, Health/fitness/wearables, Computer/Mobile Hardware & Software, Digital Imaging/Video, and Gaming, according to the events website.

The event is taking place from 10:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the afternoon, every day between June 16 and 19.

Anyone is welcome to attend the free event, but all must pre-register and pick up a personalized entry badge upon arrival.

The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Department of Information Technology supports HITEX, partnered with the Rwanga Foundation, a local education-based organization.

The fair was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year's exhibition will be the first international event of its kind to be held in Erbil as COVID-19 restrictions are gradually lifted.

We are planning to run nearly seven more exhibitions until the end of the year, said Soran Qadir Aziz, the head of Erbil International Exhibition, to Kurdistan 24.

In addition to the tech businesses, the fair will hold a conference on the latest technological developments now emerging across the world.

Editing by John J. Catherine

Additional reporting by Dena Farighi

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Erbil to host 2nd annual international fair on information technology - Kurdistan24

The last 15 years have been tough times for many Americans, but there are now encouraging signs of a turnaround.

Productivity growth, a key driver for higher living standards, averaged only 1.3% since 2006, less than half the rate of the previous decade.But on June 3, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that US labor productivity increased by 5.4% in the first quarter of 2021.Whats better, theres reason to believe that this is not just a blip, but rather a harbinger of better times ahead: a productivity surge that will match or surpass the boom times of the 1990s.

Our optimism is grounded in our research which indicates that most OECD countries are just passing the lowest point in a productivity J-curve. Driven by advances in digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, productivity growth is now headed up.

Technology alone is rarely enough to create significant benefits.

The productivity J-curve describes the historical pattern of initially slow productivity growth after a breakthrough technology is introduced, followed years later by a sharp takeoff.Our research and that of others has found that technology alone is rarely enough to create significant benefits. Instead, technology investments must be combined with even larger investments in new business processes, skills, and other types ofintangible capital before breakthroughs as diverse as the steam engine or computers ultimately boost productivity. For instance, after electricity was introduced to American factories, productivity was stagnant for more than two decades.It was only after managers reinvented their production lines using distributed machinery, a technique made possible by electricity, that productivity surged.

There are three reasons that this time around the productivity J-curve will be bigger and faster than in the past.

The first is technological: the past decade has delivered an astonishing cluster of technology breakthroughs. The most important ones are in AI: the development of machine learning algorithms combined with large decline in prices for data storage and improvements in computing power has allowed firms to address challenges from vision and speech to prediction and diagnosis. The fast-growing cloud computing market has made these innovations accessible to smaller firms.

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The coming productivity boom - MIT Technology Review

Passengers walk by a security sign warning about a facial recognition area at the Suedkreuz train station in Berlin, Germany.(Photo by Michele Tantussi/Getty Images)

The King County Council recently passed an ordinance that bans government use of facial recognition technology. That was fairly controversial within the council, but also with a group called the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.

King County Council votes to ban facial recognition software

The foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank based out of Washington, D.C. According to vice president Daniel Castro, it looks at policies around the world focused on innovation and technology.

So what was it that bothered Castro about what the King County Council did?

Well, what was surprising to me is that they seemed to be basing their decision on no real evidence, he said. So this ban was primarily based on the idea that facial recognition technology is inaccurate and highly biased towards people with darker skin and sometimes women.

But when you look at the testing thats come out from the federal government, the best performing facial recognition algorithms now perform not only better than any human, but they exhibit basically no bias, he added. And so to ban the technology because of those concerns is really misguided. And the use and procurement of this technology across the entire county is prohibited. So you cant even use the technology, for example, to unlock a door.

The outdated study Castro cites is a report from the ACLU, specifically the ACLU of California.

They never released their data, they never released their methods, even when outsiders asked to look at it and validate it, he said. And thats been a motivation for many of the laws that weve seen around the country.

And the other thing that came out was there were a number of studies that looked at facial analysis, he explained. So facial recognition is when you match one photo to another photo, facial analysis is when you look at a photo and you try and decide is this person old or young? Are they male or female? And that technology has been shown to have some racial biases, but facial recognition where youre matching one photo to another, in the most recent tests, the best performing algorithms show no bias.

Those studies were done in late 2019.

In addition to that knowledge, facial recognition has been shown to be more reliable and less biased than relying on eyewitnesses.

Right now, we still of course do facial recognition ourselves, Castro said. People arent very good at recognizing and matching people. Thats actually the cause of a number of misidentifications in the past. And what this technology does is it allows you to do this at a much more accurate level and more reliably than you could do with a human. Also, of course at a much faster speed when time is of the essence.

Municipal broadband in Washington will soon offer options beyond Comcast

Castro says his foundation has asked ACLU to release their data and methods, but they havent.

The problem is the ACLU has, of course, long-standing opposition to public cameras and surveillance in general, he said. So the fact that facial recognition is being used on some of these images is really secondary for their long-standing opposition.

To be clear, there are very good reasons why we might not want police to surveil protests. There are legitimate concerns about policing and racial bias in policing, he added. None of my critique here is to take away from that. What is so much more important than enacting these types of bans is enacting oversight, and transparency, and accountability in our police departments and law enforcement agencies so that this type of inconclusive police work cant happen.

Listen to Seattles Morning News weekday mornings from 5 9 a.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to thepodcast here.

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King County Councils ban of facial recognition technology is misguided - MyNorthwest.com

Some technology is OK, like remote controls and Google maps, but for the most part, I think life was a lot easier and far less stressful when the world wasnt wireless and the only people who understood computers were the geeky guys in high school who all became bazillionaires.

An example of how frustrating technology can be has been all the electronic hoops Mark and I have had to jump through while trying to refinance our mortgage, a process that has dragged on far too long due to our loan officer (who is in another state) suddenly going AWOL in the middle of the process and apparently taking all our paperwork with him.

Were trying again with a different loan officer and new paperwork. Of course, everythings online, which seems like it should be a lot more efficient than having actual paper copies.

The original loan officer, aka Mr. Vanishing Act, swore the e-signing was a breeze, and it certainly isnt hard, but for some reason the software has repeatedly put my name where Marks should go and his where mine belongs. Those problems only come to light when an actual human being looks at them and emails us to try again.

Then theres the thrill of finally e-signing one batch of documents correctly only to learn we have to wet sign them, which would be all right, except then we have to upload them into the correct portal. For someone like me, who isnt quite sure what a portal is, and for someone like Mark, who still has a flip phone, the result has been were both cranky much of the time and have at least one conversation a day asking each other why we cant just win the lottery and forget refinancing anything for the rest of our lives.

Then again, technology gaffes can sometimes be fun.

Every so often, I get together with some friends for lunch and to catch up on what weve all been up to. Lets call them Friend One, Friend Two, and Friend Three. A few weeks ago, I received a group text from Friend One suggesting we set up a lunch date and Friend Two and I both responded, Sure. Where do you want to go?

Thats when Friend Three chimed in. Mettlers?

Now, for the record, Friend Three is a retired teacher and the kind of person who hangs out on golf courses, not in bars, so the rest of us hahad before making more suitable suggestions. My only request was that we didnt meet somewhere that required driving on a roundabout to get there. (Yes, I know Im a chicken and I realize my world is going to continue to shrink as Mankato keeps on building more and more roundabouts, but thats another story.)

We batted around a few restaurants without roundabouts nearby when Friend Three piped up again. You dont drive in roundabouts? Theyre easy AF.

Now we knew something was wrong. Either Friend Three had started happy hour at 9 in the morning, or there was a stranger in our cellphone midst.

Friend Two wrote to Friend One and me. I dont think thats the same phone number I have for Friend Three at the exact same moment Friend One and I were both texting: Has she been drinking?

Friend Two was right; it wasnt the right phone number. A random person got Friend Ones text and decided to have some fun. Im guessing, from the speed of his or her responses, that it was a young person with lightning-fast fingers. Im also guessing it was a young person of the male persuasion because most females would either tell us wed texted the wrong number or wouldnt bother to join our group conversation.

Friends One and Two and I deleted the conversation and got in touch with Friend Three who was blissfully unaware of what wed been thinking about her drinking habits. Thankfully, we figured out what was going on before inviting Faux Friend Three to join us, although that might have been entertaining.

Im sure technology is only going to get faster and more confusing, so I guess the best thing to do is sit back and enjoy it whenever a random stranger joins a group conversation and to use Google maps to find out which restaurants arent surrounded by roundabouts. Oh, and once we finally get our house refinanced, try to avoid ever signing into any kind of portal ever again.

Nell Musolf is a freelance writer living in Mankato with her husband and two dogs. She can be reached at nmusolf@gmail.com.

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Sit back and enjoy the technology ride - Mankato Free Press

BEIJING, June 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Recon Technology, Ltd (NASDAQ: RCON) ("Recon" or the "Company") today announced that its subsidiary, Beijing BHD Petroleum Technology Limited, signed two contracts with North China E&P Company (the "North China Branch") of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation ("Sinopec"). Pursuant to these two contracts, the Company has provided technical service with ultra-deep electric submersible progressing cavity pump ("ESPCP") to one gas well at the Dongsheng Field of the Second Gas Production Plant (the "Plant No. 2") of the North China Branch and will provide the same service to another gas well at the Plant No. 2. Total amount of these two contracts is RMB 3,277,000 (approximately $0.51 million).

Management Statement

"We are extremely excited to make more breakthroughs in the ultra-deep submersible progressing cavity pump business," said Mr. Guangqiang Chen, founder and CTO of Recon, "Since last year when we signed a contract with the North China Branch and completed our first trial, we have now signed service contracts for RMB5.077 million (approximately $0.8 million) with the North China Branch for three gas wells. We are in the process of communicating with the North China Branch for ESPCP and related services for 15 more wells and expect to complete services by the end of calendar year 2021. Added together, we expect these services will bring us about $5 million of income."

Mr. Chen continued, "Beyond our own AI-based technology, we further integrated and upgraded downhole gas-liquid separation metering technology with equipment such as the ultra-deep screw pump from National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) and the downhole multi-parameter sensing devices from Power Max Petroleum Technologies Ltd, a Canada based company. We completed the construction for one gas well at Plant No. 2 with our comprehensive solution by April 16, 2021. According to our observation and testing for almost two months, the drainage and gas boosting effect has been stable, and the production status of the whole set of equipment has been reliable. Without this solution, submersible pumps used by oil companies generally have a working life cycle of only three months, after which time sand jams and equipment wear tend to result in interruption of gas well production. As a result, oil and gas companies incur costly inspection and repair fees. Our solution is expected to guarantee stable operation for more than one year, thus saving the high inspection and repair service costs, equipment and accessories replacement costs, electricity costs and sewage treatment costs. Taken together, our solution can help our clients increase their margin by up to 40%. We held an on-site technical exchange and promotion meeting with the North China Branch on May 20, 2021 and we were told that the North China Branch will promote our ultra-deep screw pump same well recovery and injection technology to all the new gas wells to be invested by the North China Branch. In the future, we plan to continue upgrading our technology in the same well recovery and injection business to provide more value-added services to our clients, and bring more long term returns to the Company."

About Recon Technology, Ltd

Recon Technology, Ltd (NASDAQ: Recon) is China's first listed non-state owned oil and gas field service company on NASDAQ. Recon supplies China's largest oil exploration companies, Sinopec (NYSE: SNP) and The China National Petroleum Corporation ("CNPC"), with advanced automated technologies, efficient gathering and transportation equipment and reservoir stimulation measure for increasing petroleum extraction levels, reducing impurities and lowering production costs. Through the years, Recon has taken leading positions on several segmented markets of the oil and gas filed service industry. Recon also has developed stable long-term cooperation relationship with its major clients. For additional information please visit: http://www.recon.cn.

Forward Looking Statements

Forward-Looking Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual results, performance or achievements may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "will," "would" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by us and our management, are inherently uncertain. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, whether we will sign any additional contracts with the North China Branch, the final revenue from providing services to the North China Branch, actual results of our solutions in the field, levels of spending in our industry as well as consumer confidence generally; changes in the competitive environment in our industry and the markets where we operate; our ability to access the capital markets; and other risks discussed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 20-F, which filings are available from the SEC. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are made as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any of these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information or future events, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable laws. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Liu Jia Chief Financial Officer Recon Technology, Ltd Phone: +86 (10) 8494-5188 Email: [emailprotected]

SOURCE Recon Technology, Ltd.

http://www.recon.cn/

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Recon Updates Progress on its Technology-Driven Solutions for Electric Submersible Progressing Cavity Pump with $5 Million Orders Secured - PRNewswire

A new technology by Jetti Resources that can be used to extract copper from mine waste could be a game-changer for the copper industry, says Mike Outwin, Jettis CEO and co-founder.

The technology enables the recovery of copper trapped in primary sulphide ore usually discarded as waste by miners because of the low copper yields generated from conventional processing methods, Outwin said in an interview.

Capstone Mining(TSX: CS) is the first company to validate the effectiveness of Jettis technology on a commercial scale at its Pinto Valley open-pit copper mine in Arizona.

Japans Mitsubishi, through its Mineral Resources Group, has supported the commercialization of the technology since 2019 and holds an undisclosed stake in the company. Earlier this month it increased its ownership in the company and invested US$50 million, which also included funds from first time investors BHP Ventures,Freeport-McMoRan(NYSE: FCX), and global investment firm Orion Resources Partners.

Mitsubishiwill provide our expertise in business creation, marketing, finance, and technology and collaborate to expand the deployment of Jettis technology across the industry, Takashi Hirose, general manager of Mitsubishis Mineral Resources Group, wrote in an email to The Northern Miner.

Jettis technology has the potential to make a significant contribution to more efficient development and conservation of the worlds limited copper resources, Hirose noted. Our investment was made to both secure a stable supply of copper and to contribute to MCs efforts in addressing the problem of diminishing natural resources.

The success at Capstones Pinto Valley has deepened our confidence in Jettis technology, and we are impressed with the great performance of Jettis management team,he added.

Following the latest financing, Jetti has now raised more than US$100 million for the development and deployment of the technology.

Were looking forward to pursuing opportunities within our partners portfolios of copper assets to deliver additional copper to the markets and value to our investors, Outwin said.

Last year Jetti strengthened its board and management team, bringing on Chip Goodyear, the former CEO ofBHP(NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP), and Trevor Reid, the former CFO of Anglo-Swiss mining company Xstrata, which was acquired byGlencore(LSE: GLEN) in 2013.

Capstone Mining first deployed the catalytic technology in mid-2019 in an effort to enhance copper recovery from the leach operation at Pinto Valley.

Last year, the company reported a doubling of copper cathode production per area irrigated, a key metric for tracking the performance of its leaching operation, since the technology was implemented at the mines solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) plant.

We were very excited by the results as it means we can now generate value from material previously considered waste, Jerrold Annett, Capstones senior vice president, strategy and capital markets, said in an interview. We have historic stockpiles potentially containing over a billion pounds of copper. So, there is huge potential to improve the competitiveness of Pinto Valley.

Another big win for us, Annett said, is the ability to produce a finished cathode product with a 99.99% copper content on site. By comparison, copper concentrates from the sites mill may only contain around 25% copper, he said, and are currently sent by Capstone for refining at smelters that are often some distance from the site.

In 1981, Pinto Valley started producing copper cathode from stockpiled material below the mills cut-off grade that had accumulated since the early 1970s. By the early 2000s, annual cathode production averaged approximately 16 million pounds.

Since then, however, annual production has fallen to around four million lb. of copper due to reduced leach recovery from the chalcopyrite mined at the operation.

Capstones use of the catalytic leach technology was an extension of its existing PV3 optimization study, which focused on several low-capex, high-impact projects to increase the net present value of the operation.

Jettis technology could enable existing SX-EW operations to process mineralised material previously considered too low-grade to be processed economically, reinvigorating aging mining operations while also providing an alternative to the development of brownfield sites.

A key aim of PV3 was to generate strong cash flow from the sites underutilized 25 million pounds per year SX-EW plant, which is currently operating at around 20% capacity, Annett said.

The company plans to increase copper cathode production from its SX-EW facility to around 300-350 million lb. of copper over the mines remaining 19-year mine life, and given the commercial demonstration of the technology, Capstone intends to significantly expand leaching activity at the facility, targeting the estimated 280-300 million tonnes of historic stockpile and the estimated 175-185 million tonnes of high-grade waste that will be deposited at Pinto Valley over the rest of its operational life.

There is also potential to increase the mill cut-off grade to bolster copper concentrate production, which would also increase the amount of high-grade waste available for leaching, said Annett.

Capstone is working on an updated study, PV4, which, he said, will include increased use of Jettis technology to reduce waste tonnes, increase production, and extend the life of the mine, possibly into the 2050s.

The study is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022.

Currently, around 70% of the worlds copper resources are bound up in primary sulphide minerals like chalcopyrite, the worlds most abundant copper-bearing mineral.

However, standard leaching techniques, such as heap or run-of-mine leaching with sulphuric acid, used to extract the copper from the chalcopyrite results in a hard, non-reactive coating, which forms around the crystal structures in the mineralised materials.

Mike Outwin, Jetti Resources CEO and co-founder. Credit: Jetti Resources.

This coating, called the passivation layer, prevents contact between the leaching solution and the surface of the mineral, inhibiting the recovery of copper, explained Outwin.

Over the past decade or so, the mining industry has sought to develop a cost-effective method for extracting copper from low-grade sulphide ore. These efforts have typically focused on subjecting the chalcopyrite to high temperatures or crushing it very finely to extract the copper before the passivation layer forms; however, this approach has proved to be expensive and uneconomic at scale.

As miners usually assign zero percent recovery to the low-grade chalcopyrite, which often makes up a significant component of their mines, our technology could be a game-changer for the copper industry, said Outwin. Its considered the holy grail for the industry.

Developed in collaboration with the University of British Columbia (UBC), the catalytic leach technology uses a proprietary catalyst that enhances copper recovery from heap leaching of chalcopyrite ore. (Under the partnership with UBC, Jetti holds the global license to deploy the technology.)

It works by disrupting the metal-sulphur bond in the chalcopyrite and prevents the passivation layer from forming, allowing the copper to be extracted unimpeded. It can also remove the passivation layer if it has already formed, allowing for the re-treatment of previously leached material.

The technology allows for the efficient and effective heap and stockpile leach extraction of copper trapped in the mineralised material, said Outwin, increasing yields by as much as 300% compared to traditional processes.

It also easily integrates with existing SX-EW process infrastructure, and so requires minimal additional upfront capex other than the installation of an on-site catalyst addition facility, resulting in lower unit costs of production, he said.

In addition to the potential economic benefits, he added, the technology has significant environmental benefits too.

By using hydrometallurgical methods, processing plants that use the technology require less power and transportation compared with pyrometallurgy. As a result, Jetti estimates that 40% fewer carbon dioxide emissions and 70% fewer emissions of sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides are generated, and consume less than half the water of traditional pyrometallurgical methods to produce the same amount of copper.

The widespread adoption of the technology by the copper industry could also reverse the decades long decline in the use of leaching and SX-EW to produce copper, which has been occurring due to falling reserve quality and lower orebody grades, said Outwin.

There are several types of mining operations and deposit categories where the technology could be deployed, he said.

These include atSX-EW plants with underutilized capacity or mines with mineralised material below cut-off grades, which could allow for the inclusion of stockpiled material in mine plans.The technologycould also enable low-grade material processing at greenfield deposits with large amounts of sulphide ore presently considered uneconomic to process. Higher-grade sulphide tailings would also benefit from the technology.

It has the potential to extend the life of a mine by allowing waste streams and uneconomic deposits to be turned into valuable assets through the conversion of resources into reserves, said Outwin.

According to a study by CRU Group commissioned by Jetti, there is a decades worth of copper contained within discarded waste dumps atmines around the world.

Released in May, the study estimated that nearly 40 million tonnes of copper are currently bound up in tailings.

As the world transitions to a low-carbon economy, global demand for the red metal, which is crucial to the electrification of the transportation and power systems needed to support this transition, is expected to soar over the coming decades.

CRU forecasts a significant supply gap emerging from the mid-2020s, which could reach nearly 11 million tonnes annually by 2050 if new supplies dont come online.

The consultingcompany estimates the cumulative total market demand for Jettis technology could be about 234 million tonnes of copper by 2050.Were the technology to be applied to 100% of this demand, CRU estimates, the technology could yield a peak production of 7.2 million tonnes of copper per year by 2034, enough to meet most of the forecast supply shortfall.

The study highlights the huge contribution our technology can make in providing the copper vital for de-carbonizing the worlds economies, said Outwin. Furthermore, the technology also enables the production of copper in a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable manner.

Jetti currently has a pipeline of 23 projects at various stages of development, including five active pilots and three opportunities transitioning to commercial status, he said. Were now in full-blown execution mode and are hard at work scaling up our growth phase.

Link:

Jetti Resources' technology could help unlock millions of tonnes of copper from tailings - The Northern Miner

Lets face it, there are many unknowns about offshore wind energy and its ability to meaningfully contribute to our efforts to lessen dependency on fossil fuels. Despite being active in Europe and the United Kingdom for decades, offshore-wind unknowns still exist.

Questions include how to maintain a buried cable, what is the life of the wind turbines in the North Atlantic environment, and how can operators effectively store the energy created in order to smooth out the peaks and valleys associated with wind variation. The list goes on.

Locally, concerns associated with these unknowns are exacerbated by the questionable actions of the Connecticut Port Authority and the unavailability of the State Pier in New London whenit becomes fully dedicated to offshore wind development.

We can get overwhelmed by the unknowns and wait for answers, or we can look at this through the eyes of an entrepreneur or researcher. These unknowns are not problems, they are opportunities. It may take time to fully realize the opportunities, but that shouldnt stop us from making every effort to make it work.

Here in southeastern Connecticut, too much time has been spent looking at the small picture, at the problems, at the concerns. That approach risks letting the opportunities associated with the massive potential of offshore wind energy topass us by.

Instead, lets go big.

It is time to work with our congressional delegation and Gov. Ned Lamont and push for the creation of a National Laboratory for Offshore Wind Energy to be established in the region. One obvious choice for its location is the Avery Point Campus of the University of Connecticut in Groton or, if not there, the Fort Trumbull area in New London.

The Biden Administration and many in Congress are putting a big bet on the success of offshore wind being a major contributor to the nations electric grid and the creator of new, well-paying jobs. Tens ofbillions of dollars are being anted up in the face of the unknowns and the challenges.

The New London-Groton area is not only incredibly well situated to be able to fabricate and haul these gigantic wind machines out to ocean, but also to host a national research lab. UConn already has its Marine Sciences program at Avery Point, and the School of Engineering is pioneering work on next generation battery storage, as well as on advanced material research in composites to allow the blades to be stronger and lighter.

Adding to the region's potential to be the leader in driving offshore wind-power technology is the location ofthe Coast Guard Research and Development Center at Fort Trumbull.And most of the major players in theindustry rsted, Equinor, Vineyard Wind have partnerships and offices in Connecticut.

The New London-Groton areaiscentrally located and easily accessible by researchers at top universities throughout New England and the Northeast. Researchers working in a national lab could coordinate with researchers at the federal level and with industry experts to help answer the unknowns, drive the industry forward, and meet the challenges that lie ahead.

A national lab in and of itself would be an economic development catalyst for the region by attracting companies that want to be nearby the latest research.

But we can do better than that.

Connected to the national lab could be a robust program for testing under real-world conditions technology developed in the laboratory. Just over the horizon will be one of the biggest offshore wind installations in the world. What would be better than for entrepreneurs, startup companies, and even the established companies to usethose wind farms as test sites where innovatedideas can be evaluatedin practical applications?

The national lab could develop as an accelerator program where startups from around the world come to test the cutting-edge science and engineering necessary to achieve wind-powers full potential. The startups, in turn, could receive mentoring and business development services, while working directly with their potential clients or through joint-venture partners. Such accelerator programs are a tried-and-true method for instilling innovation in industries, as has been seen by the creativity and innovation prompted by the InsureTech accelerators in Hartford.

With the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut working hard to develop an Innovation Center in downtown New London, this accelerator program could be an anchor tenant to help move that project forward as well.

Locating a National Lab for Offshore Wind Energy in southeastern Connecticut makes too much sense not to pursue.

So, lets go big and work to realize what is possible, before it is too late.

Bruce Carlson developed the Tech Transfer Program at the University of Connecticut and has worked with entrepreneurs and startups, and on various economic development efforts in Connecticut for the past 20 years.

Read more:

We can take the lead in offshore wind-energy technology - theday.com