Graphene production

Levidian, a UK-based advanced materials company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with J.O., a global carbon nanotube (CNT) mass production company, for graphene research, development, and production. 

Through this agreement, J.O. will expand its graphene business based on its CNT mass production technology, marking a full-scale entry into the next-generation advanced materials market. Levidian possesses modular LOOP technology that simultaneously produces graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) and clean hydrogen by decomposing methane. This technology uses no catalysts or water, operates under low-temperature and low-pressure conditions, and produces graphene using a bottom-up synthesis method using methane as a raw material, ensuring consistent quality. 

Graphene Manufacturing Group ("GMG") has announced its Board of Directors has approved the investment of an additional AU$1.4 million (around US$993,000), which is expected to complete the construction of the Company's Gen 2.0 Graphene Manufacturing Technology plant capable of producing 10 tons of graphene per annum. The total capital cost for the Gen 2.0 Plant is an estimated AU$2.3 million.

The Company's Board is reportedly happy with progress to date and is confident that the Gen 2.0 Plant project is on track to meet its original budget and expectation to be online by the middle of 2026. The early work and procurement of the long lead items is substantially complete, and engineering and design has commenced.

Researchers from Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed a rapid, highly efficient process to synthesize graphene from discarded peanut shells - turning what agricultural waste into a high-value nanomaterial.

The team, led by Professor Guan Yeoh from UNSW’s School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, used a two-stage heating strategy that dramatically improves the energy efficiency and quality of the resulting graphene compared to traditional high-temperature or chemical routes. Their work shows how precursor engineering - the controlled pre-treatment of raw biomass - determines the structural order and electronic quality of the resulting graphene.

HydroGraph Clean Power has announced that it has started construction of two additional Hyperion graphene reactors, supporting the Company’s planned scale-up of graphene production capacity.

Each Hyperion reactor has an expected production capacity of approximately 10 tons per year of HydroGraph’s FGA-1 fractal graphene using the Company’s proprietary explosion-synthesis process. These reactors will have the same physical footprint as HydroGraph’s existing commercial unit, measuring approximately 6 feet by 6 feet by 18 feet.

Researchers at Korea-based Edmayim Corp., a materials R&D company specializing in scalable advanced carbon technologies, have reported a practical and scalable graphene exfoliation method based on interlayer expansion followed by controlled centrifugation, enabling reproducible fractionation of few-layer graphene. The process uses a water-based, environmentally benign exfoliation pathway without chemical oxidants.

Centrifugation-based fractionation illustrating layer-dependent sedimentation behavior of exfoliated graphene under different rotational speeds from 3,000 to 10,000 rpm.

The method integrates interlayer expansion–assisted exfoliation, which weakens interlayer coupling through a water-based physical process, with controlled centrifugation-based fractionation that exploits layer-dependent mass and hydrodynamic behavior. By tuning centrifugation parameters, distinct, reproducible sedimentation windows appear, each corresponding to graphene fractions dominated by different layer numbers and governed by intrinsic structural differences rather than random aggregation or stochastic fragmentation.

Researchers from Australia's James Cook University and Flinders University recently announced they successfully used cheap agricultural byproduct, nanocellulose, to make graphene - using only water, rather than harsh chemicals.

The team took cellulose derived from woody biomass, converted it to biochar, then used a newly patented vortex fluidic device (VFD) to produce high quality graphene, explained the paper’s first author and JCU PhD candidate Yu Matsueda. “The VFD rotates at very high speed, allowing us to really control the way fluids move inside the device … thus we can control the layers of graphene formed from the initial biochar,” he said “In our research we used water as a solvent, which is more sustainable than current methods.”

Rice University researchers from the lab of James Tour have shown that Thomas Edison’s original 1879 carbon-filament light bulbs possibly included a graphene-forming regime, suggesting that one of history’s most iconic inventions may have inadvertently produced turbostratic graphene long before it was formally isolated.

Image from: ACS Nano

Turbostratic graphene can be produced by applying a voltage across a resistant carbon-based material and rapidly heating it to 2,000-3,000 degrees Celsius. In modern terms, that method is called flash Joule heating. But the method available to Edison in 1879 was simply turning on one of his newly patented, stable light bulbs. Unlike modern incandescent light bulbs that rely on tungsten filaments, early versions often used resistant carbon-based filaments like Japanese bamboo. Flipping a switch applied a voltage that rapidly heated the filaments, producing light. Or, perhaps, graphene....

Levidian has announced a second order for a tonne of graphene in the Middle East, to be supplied through its strategic partner Kanoo Energy, part of Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo Company Limited, to a large-scale industrial client in Saudi Arabia.

The order follows Levidian’s first tonne-scale graphene order in the region, and reinforces growing demand for verified graphene at industrial volumes as customers move from testing to procurement. It also reflects a further expansion of graphene evaluation in a new, large- scale industrial setting. MENA continues to be a strategic focus for Levidian. The company is strengthening collaborations with regional partners to accelerate adoption across multiple applications, while progressing plans to scale local graphene production.

Graphene Square has completed a graphene film mass-production plant at the Blue Valley National Industrial Complex in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province of Korea. It is regarded as the first attempt in Korea to produce large-area graphene continuously based on factory facilities.

Graphene Square, founded in 2012, signed an investment memorandum of understanding (MOU) with North Gyeongsang Province and the city of Pohang in 2021 and then transferred its headquarters from Suwon to Pohang. A total of 42 billion won was invested in the Pohang plant, which has a total floor area of 6,308㎡. Graphene Square raised a 19 billion won Series B round in 2023 and received a 16 billion won pre-IPO investment in April this year.

Grapherry, a Chicago-based clean-tech materials company, has developed a method for producing graphene from carbon waste at industrial scale. This process aims to make high-quality, cost-effective graphene more accessible for practical applications. 

With support from mHUB Chicago, CURRENT, and the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition, Grapherry has advanced its protected continuous-flow manufacturing system for graphene production. The company’s work aligns with broader efforts to develop scalable and lower-cost materials using circular principles.