Graphene Engineering & Innovation Centre Advisory Panel Visits Thomas Swan’s Facilities

In early January senior members from The University of Manchester’s GEIC advisory panel visited Thomas Swan in Consett, County Durham, to gain a better understanding of the process engineering, utilities, logistics, technology and safety requirements for a modern materials manufacturing facility.

Thomas Swan is well established as a reliable manufacturer of quality carbon nanomaterials – initially as a supplier of carbon nanotubes and now as a leading supplier of high quality graphene.

As a member of the GEIC Industry Advisory Panel, Thomas Swan invited the team to visit the Consett site for improved insight into modern chemical processing to assist in the concept and design of the new £60M graphene research centre.

“We are pleased to support the GEIC team in developing the strategy and plans for the new facility in Manchester. We hope that by collaborating at this early stage we can help guide the development of the new facility which will support UK manufacturing companies and in particular the needs of SME’s such as Thomas Swan” said Andy Goodwin, Commercial Director – Advanced Materials Division.

“We view partnership with academic centres and government supported facilities as essential to de-risk investment in materials innovation. We are excited by and look forward to collaborating with the world class expertise which is being developed and strengthened at The University of Manchester” added Goodwin.

James Baker, Business Director for the National Graphene Institute (NGI) said: “Visiting the fantastic facilities at Thomas Swan has been thoroughly informative. The NGI and the forthcoming GEIC facilities will make sure research at the University goes hand-in-hand with collaboration with industry and SMEs in particular. The infrastructure we are putting in place in Manchester will lead to a critical mass of world-leading graphene focused academics and industry working alongside one another."