ZEN Graphene Solutions (TSXV: ZEN) announced that it has signed an initial agreement to in-license certain intellectual properties from a Canadian university that when combined with ZEN’s graphite from the Albany mine, produces low-cost, environmentally-friendly graphene.
In a press release, the company explained that the production process rapidly exfoliates Albany graphite into few-layer graphene or FLG with a conversion efficiency of over 90%.
TheAlbany graphite project is located near Thunder Bay, in northeastern Ontario. It is a microcrystalline graphite deposit with a completed PEA
“The challenge in the emerging graphene industry has been to produce consistent FLG, available in industrial quantities at prices that permit industrial adoption,” Francis Dubé, ZEN’s CEO, said in the media brief. “We believe that with this exciting new process applied to our unique Albany Graphite product, ZEN Graphene Solutions possesses all the components to solve this challenge within a single vertically integrated company.”
According to Dubé, the company collected 110 tonnes of graphite-mineralized material with an estimated average grade of 6% graphitic carbon during a bulk sample program that was carried out in early 2019.
The collected material is going to be purified into approximately 99.8% graphite. This exfoliation process combined with other techniques will be used to transform the graphite into graphene and graphene oxide.
“The company has commenced searching for an industrial location that will house a pilot production centre, a research and development lab as well as office space. The graphene produced by the pilot production centre will be offered for sale as permitted by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines,” Dubé said.
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