BUSINESS
FROM CONCORDE TO COMPOSITES
In 2011, a chance encounter under the wings of Concorde at Duxford Air Museum set in motion a series of events that would lead, six years later, to the development of a 20t/ year graphene manufacturing plant, reports Harry Swan
M
y encounter was with Trinity College Dublin (TCD) professor, Johnny Coleman, following a materials
science conference in nearby Cambridge. As soon as we got talking, I was impressed by Johnny’s practical, non-nonsense approach to solving the scalability issue with graphene production. Coleman is a physicist, not a chemist, and believed that the solution lay in mechanical techniques. Following the conference, Thomas Swan agreed to fund his group for four years to develop a scalable process for the manufacture of graphene. Coleman and his team initially
considered sonication, but quickly ruled it out due to its lack of scalability. He then sent one of his researchers out to the shops to buy a kitchen blender. They threw some graphite, water and a squirt of washing-up liquid into the blender, switched it on and went for a cup of coffee. When they later analysed the ‘grey soup’ they had created, they found they had successfully made
few-layer graphene platelets. The TCD group then spent months optimising the technique and worked closely with some ‘embedded’ Thomas Swan scientists to transfer the process back to Thomas Swan’s manufacturing headquarters in Consett, County Durham. The graphene manufacturing plant subsequently built at Consett can make up to 20t/year of high quality graphene. It uses a high sheer continuous process to exfoliate graphite flakes into few-layer graphene platelets in an aqueous dispersion. The dispersion is stabilised by adding various surfactants before separating out the graphene using continuous cross- flow filtration devices developed with the support of the UK’s Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. This de-risking of process
development using a Catapult is a classic example of effective government intervention to support innovative SMEs. Thomas Swan didn’t want to commit to the significant cost of a cross-flow filter before we knew it would work. CPI not only showed us it worked, but also optimised the technique for us. Interestingly, the process can be
adjusted to make various grades of graphene, depending on the residence time. Shorter runs produce what the company calls Materials Grade Graphene, which is essentially lightly processed graphite. Conversely, longer runs increase the quantity of few layer graphene as the graphite is progressively broken up by repeated passes through the high sheer process. This has allowed us to offer a range of prices with the less perfect
Materials Grade Graphene selling for much less than the higher quality few layer graphene – something that has been well received in the marketplace. Thomas Swan is no stranger to
innovation. The company, which was founded in 1926, has a track record of spinning out various technologies from multiple universities. Over the past two decades, we have invested in semiconductor equipment, photonics, protein separation, supercritical CO2
processing, contract
pharmaceutical assessment and flat screen displays. Some of these enterprises have been hugely successful, others less so. The recent focus on graphene came from a shift in strategy in 2006, when I took over as MD. I wanted to ensure the core chemicals business was the main investment priority, rather than treating it like a cash cow to feed other ‘step out’ business proposals. We realised in 2006 that China was
starting to get more expensive and decided to invest in our UK assets. As a result, today we are seeing more and more re-shoring of business as major customers are tired of being let down by overseas suppliers. An early pioneer in the manufacture of single-wall carbon nanotubes, Thomas Swan decided to add graphene and a wider range of other two-dimensional nanomaterials to its Advanced Materials product portfolio to ensure diversity in our offering. The company has a strict policy to not over-promise on its technological progress. People want to know that the material they purchase will be the same material they re-purchase in six months’ time – and that the process used is
30 02 | 2018
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