G2O Awarded Grant by Innovate UK for the Development of Low Cost Self-Cleaning Graphene-Coated Membranes

G₂O Water International Limited (G₂O), the graphene innovation and application company, announces that a consortium led by G₂O has had a £706,922 (USD 1 million) funding application approved by Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency, under the “Creating smart products from smart materials” programme, to enhance the performance of existing filter membranes.

The Innovate UK-supported project is to develop a low cost, self-cleaning coating technology based on functionalised graphene. The technology has already been demonstrated successfully by G₂O in lab-scale tests. The aim of the project is to produce a smart filter membrane for use in environmental remediation which will be evaluated by Sellafield Ltd, the company responsible for decommissioning the UK’s nuclear legacy.

Led by G₂O, this project will translate the lab-scale work into a working, robust, reliable manufacturing process which can be scaled-up to enhance the performance of existing filter membranes. The coating will be formulated and validated by the consortium for deployment in a number of different applications, with the resultant smart product having the ability to be taken to market and readily applied to improve the performance of a broad range of industrial processes.

G₂O’s ground-breaking patented technology applies a graphene coating to membranes, manufactured by third parties, which dramatically increases the performance of the membrane and also allows membranes to be used in new applications and end markets where fouling currently prevents their use. The technology has the potential to transform the water and environmental industry by reducing energy costs by up to 90%, combined with reduced filtration fouling and most importantly, it has the ability to effectively clean waste water so that it can be re-used.

G₂O will be working with AIM-listed Haydale Graphene Industries Plc (“Haydale” (LSE:HAYD)) and the Centre for Process Innovation (“CPI”) to investigate the supply of graphene materials and process scale-up, and with Sellafield Ltd to evaluate its performance with nuclear effluent.

In order to utilise graphene in any application, it must first be appropriately functionalised so that the end product can take full advantage of its superior properties. The key to realising the full potential of graphene is homogeneous dispersion and chemical bonding with the matrix. Haydale have a proprietary low temperature plasma process, which is believed to be the most effective method of achieving graphene functionalisation and harnessing the potential of graphene to create the high quality optimised coatings required for the ‘smart’ membrane. Membrane filters can be applied to a variety of industrial liquid and gas separation applications such as water desalination, waste water treatment, and water-oil separation.

G₂O CEO Tim Harper commented:

“Graphene has the potential to be a transformative technology in environmental remediation, whether providing low cost drinking water or cleaning up environmentally hazardous substances. After two rounds of independent assessments of the technology, its applications and the business itself, the approval from Innovate UK validates both the game changing nature of G₂O’s technology, as well as the strength of our partners who will assist us in scaling up. We look forward to Sellafield Ltd being a long term customer.”