PITTSBURGH, Nov. 26, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — II‐VI Incorporated (Nasdaq:IIVI), a leader in engineered materials, today announced the introduction and availability for licensing of its breakthrough scandium recovery technology.
Scandium is a rare earth element increasingly demanded for applications that reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality and strengthen energy security. In one particular application of growing interest, scandium enables low-emission solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) that operate off the electric grid. Scandium also enables ultra-high strength and lightweight aluminum alloys that improve fuel efficiency in transportation vehicles, when incorporated in the form of next-generation structural and functional parts, including a growing number produced by additive manufacturing. II-VI’s patent-pending selective ion recovery (SIR) enables the transformation of industrial waste streams into economical sources of scandium at 50% of the cost of conventional extractive metallurgy techniques and provides environmental benefits.
“Scandium recovered by II-VI’s new SIR process will enter the supply chain for products across a broad range of exciting applications in green energy and 3D printing,” said Dr. Wen-Qing Xu, General Manager, Platform Technology Development and Incubation. “As a member of the Scandium Aluminum Europe alliance, or SCALE, an EU funded program under the Horizon 2020 initiative, II-VI validated its SIR technology in European aluminum and titanium waste streams and plans to install a pilot plant in Greece in early 2019 to demonstrate the viability of this novel technology.”
II-VI’s new SIR process will be presented at the Scandium Inventory Workshop organized by the German Federal Institute for Materials Research & Testing (BAM) in Berlin on November 27, 2018.
About II-VI Incorporated
II-VI Incorporated, a global leader in engineered materials and optoelectronic components, is a vertically integrated manufacturing company that develops innovative products for diversified applications in the industrial, optical communications, military, life sciences, semiconductor equipment, and consumer markets. Headquartered in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, the Company has research and development, manufacturing, sales, service, and distribution facilities worldwide. The Company produces a wide variety of application-specific photonic and electronic materials and components, and deploys them in various forms, including integrated with advanced software to support our customers. For more information, please visit us at www.ii-vi.com.
CONTACT:
Mark Lourie
Director of Corporate Communications
[email protected]
www.ii-vi.com/contact-us
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/844d172e-77b0-43e4-9e8d-d92fac34c3e9
