Appointment adds strategic voice for clean energy production initiatives at the highest level of government
6K, a rising star in the production of sustainable advanced materials, today announced that former Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy III has joined its Board of Directors. As a representative in the United States Congress Kennedy has been a long-time supporter of climate action, clean energy development, and local manufacturing. 6K’s technology promises to revolutionize how advanced materials are produced, offering a tangible representation of the clean energy technology Kennedy pushed for during his tenure as a US Congressman, and can now drive forward as a member of 6K’s Board.
Kennedy states, “Today there are virtually zero battery materials being produced in the United States, costing the country good jobs and tremendous economic opportunity. 6K has huge potential to change this dynamic, enabling us to bring cost-effective and environmentally-friendly battery material production to US soil. The company is powerfully aligned with our new administration’s commitment to U.S. job creation and clean technology and will further solidify Massachusetts’ leadership on the cutting edge of advanced manufacturing.”
Globally, countries continue to pass legislation that will require their nations to shift to more environmentally friendly technologies like electric vehicles. However, what is often overlooked is that the materials used to power these vehicles are only as clean as the production processes used throughout the supply chain. Regrettably, the legacy technologies used to produce advanced battery materials for EVs are extremely unsustainable. These environmentally unfriendly processes fly in the face of climate change and have a dramatic negative impact on the environment.
Currently tackling materials for energy storage and additive manufacturing, the UniMelt® platform offers multifaceted sustainability benefits. As an example, if a legacy battery cathode production plant was replaced with a UniMelt system, by 2030 alone 100% of wastewater would have been eliminated (equating to 210 billion liters), plus 37 billion pounds of CO2 greenhouse gases and 67 billion kWh of energy (savings of 70%) and 177 billion liters of water (reduced by 90%).
“We are delighted to have the Congressman join our Board of Directors. Joe’s stance on clean energy and the development of green manufacturing technologies is well documented and intersects perfectly with 6K’s mission to deliver high-performance advanced materials that are radically greener than legacy production technologies,” explains 6K CEO Dr. Aaron Bent. “Having Joe on our team helps hone our sustainability strategy while propelling 6K to the forefront of the conversation with government initiatives in organizations like the Department of Defense and Department of Energy.”
6K is accelerating the industrial transformation of advanced material production with sustainable manufacturing through its UniMelt system, the world’s first industrial microwave plasma platform. “6K’s system takes the two-to three-day production cycle of legacy technologies, which consume huge amounts of energy, and replaces it with a clean, two-second process that uses a fraction of the energy,” says Kennedy. “When we talk about clean energy and production responsibility, advanced materials and next-generation systems have to be a part of that conversation. 6K’s UniMelt system is a next-generation system that this sector desperately needs.”
As well as delivering a cleaner process, the unique UniMelt technology also allows material performance to be fine-tuned. For the electronic vehicle sector, this means batteries could be designed with longer range and shorter charge times, potentially accelerating wider adoption.