Versarien has announced the completion of the construction phase of a civil engineering project being undertaken by the Company with a subsidiary of Costain Group.

Versarien has been working with Costain to develop designs for, and bring into production, a 3D printed concrete headwall for use in highway construction projects, part of the Digital Roads of the Future Partnership, a collaboration led by the University of Cambridge, Costain and National Highways, of which Versarien is a partner.

Today we have published the latest edition of our Graphene Construction Materials Market market report, a comprehensive guide to the world of graphene-enhanced construction materials. The report several new companies, projects and research activities involved in this exciting and promising market.

Reading this report, you'll learn all about:

• The advantages of using graphene in construction materials
• Companies involved in this industry
• Projects and trials underway today
• Research activities

The report package also provides:

• Datasheets and brochures from leading companies
• A look into how graphene can reduce carbon emissions
• A look into Chinese graphene construction materials projects
• Free updates for a year

This Graphene Construction Materials market report provides a great introduction to graphene materials used in the construction industry. It is a must-read guide for anyone interested in understanding the current market, mapping the companies involved and evaluating the future of the construction industry.

Bio Graphene Solutions (BGS) recently announced the development of its first graphene-enhanced product for the concrete market. 

Leveraging its capability of converting 100% organic materials into high-quality graphene via a patented cleantech process, BGS has developed a strength performance admixture for commercial concrete mix designs. 

First Graphene Limited has entered into a joint development agreement (JDA) with fellow ASX-listed company Suvo Strategic Minerals Limited, to research and develop low emission cement and concrete products.

The agreement aims to investigate the potential for further improvements in CO₂ emission reductions by combining the already successful outcomes achieved from the addition of graphene to cement and concrete with Suvo’s metakaolin (a pozzolanic material derived from fine kaolinite clay that can be used as a partial replacement for clinker in cement) to deliver strength and performance improvements to concrete and mortar products.

Nationwide Engineering Research and Development (NERD) has raised £8 million (over USD$9.5 million) in seed funding as it looks to commercialize a graphene-enhanced building material called Concretene. The funding came from the venture capital firm LocalGlobe.

NERD, a company founded by Nationwide Engineering Group, developed Concretene with the goal of creating a stronger and more sustainable product than traditional concrete by adding a graphene formulation into the hydration process of concrete development. NERD said that when deployed on active construction projects, Concretene was as much as 30-50% stronger than standard concrete.

On 1 July 2020, Versarien announced that the UK Government, via Innovate UK, had granted a £5 million loan to the Company, for a project named G-SCALE, an acronym for Graphene, Seat, Concrete, Arch, Leisure, Elastomer. The award was to facilitate the production of sufficient quantities of graphene to enable commercialization of graphene-enhanced products in these five priority application areas.

Recently, Versarien has provided a summary of G-SCALE progress for each of the relevant segments. 

The University of Manchester has entered a partnership with Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa University of Science and Technology, with the aim to deliver a funding boost to graphene innovation. Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President & Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester, and Professor Sir John O’Reilly, President of Khalifa University  officially signed a contract between the two institutions during a VIP visit by a Manchester delegation to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

This international partnership will further accelerate Manchester and Abu Dhabi’s research and innovation into graphene and other 2D materials. The Research & Innovation Center for Graphene and 2D Materials (RIC-2D), based in Khalifa University, is part of a strategic investment program supported by the Government of Abu Dhabi, UAE. This partnership will expedite the development of the RIC-2D at Khalifa University as well as help building capability in graphene and 2D materials in collaboration with Graphene@Manchester, a community that includes the academic–led National Graphene Institute (NGI) and the commercially-focused Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), a pioneering facility already backed by the Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy company Masdar.

Directa Plus has announced that its G+ graphene will be used in the asphalt for a 250 kilometer (km) motorway section in Italy, along with selected recycled hard plastics such as toys, fruit crates and litter bins, to make a product called Gipave. The contract to use the Gipave asphalt ‘supermodifier’ in the road surfacing of the A4 Torino-Milano motorway section was won by Directa's Italian partner Iterchimica with motorway management and infrastructure specialist ASTM Group.  

Gipave uses Directa's graphene to improve resistance and life span for road surfaces.

First Graphene will work with the Breedon Group, Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure and the University of Manchester to develop a new reduced-CO₂ graphene-enhanced cement. The consortium is currently formulating the cement using varying doses of First Graphene’s PureGRAPH graphene-enhanced grinding aid. The project received a research grant from the UK government earlier in 2022.

First Graphene says that the study involves one of the largest commercial trials of its kind to date globally.

Haydale and Atomi have announced they will be working together on a project aimed at developing high-performance, intelligent concrete. Using graphene and adding sensor technology, the next generation of strengthened concrete reportedly has the potential to reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 30% while offering performance indicators during its lifetime thanks to intelligent sensors capable of capturing real-time data.

Graphene-enhanced concrete is a relatively new development but has been gaining traction and is already being tested around the world, including in several construction projects in the UK. To learn more about graphene-enhanced construction materials, don't miss Graphene-Info's new report.