Black Swan Graphene: Soaring To New Heights With Commercial Headway Of A Revolutionary Material

A recent report that a major UAE investment fund committed $1 billion to support a graphene-based concrete technology, has triggered some excitement about the endless possibilities of graphene.

According to the report, the partnership will be one of the most ambitious projects to date to commercialize graphene.

Graphene, the world’s thinnest, strongest and most conductive material of electricity and heat, is continually exciting researchers, businesses and investors worldwide mainly due to its potential to revolutionize entire industries such as energy, construction, health, and electronics sectors and more.

Also dubbed the “wonder material,” it is 200 times stronger than steel and it stands out for being tough, flexible, and highly resistant – improving product performance and generally reducing costs.

Experts believe graphene can bring a remarkable performance boost to key products such as building materials with massive increases in compressive and tensile strength, faster-charging batteries and concrete that emits far less greenhouse gases in construction. All the benefits appear to make a great case for the wonder of graphene.

A Graphene Beacon Of The Future?

The growing use case for graphene is driving the growth of the global graphene market. The market was valued at $175.9 million in 2022 and it is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46.6% from 2023 to 2030, presenting tremendous opportunities for players like Black Swan Graphene Inc. SWAN BSWGF (Frankfurt: R96).

The company could emerge as the beacon in the ever-evolving world of advanced materials. With their cutting-edge research and groundbreaking applications, Black Swan says it is revolutionizing the industry and changing how the world perceives the possibilities of material science.

The Toronto, Canada-based company is at the forefront of the graphene revolution, harnessing and processing additive materials to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with these remarkable materials.

With the strong belief that the future will be built with Black Swan’s graphene, the company is advancing technologies in bulk graphene, which offers unique properties. Bulk graphene is rapidly emerging in large-volume industrial applications, thanks to efficient high-yield low-cost production methods being discovered by first movers like Black Swan.

Pioneering Graphene Applications And Collaborations

Black Swan, trading on TSX Venture Exchange in the chemical material sector, has been working on a myriad of groundbreaking applications that have the potential to transform industries and improve lives.

While the company says its graphene technology has wide-use applications such as concrete, lithium batteries, tires, 3D Printing, packaging, paint, lubricants, textiles, high voltage, water filtration and distillation, polymers/plastics, and asphalts, it is initially targeting two markets — concrete and plastics (polymers). Black Swan’s graphene increases the mechanical properties of concrete and polymers, allowing it to save costs, invent new applications, and lower its CO2 footprint. On its end, concrete is the most used substance on Earth after water. For polymers, graphene is sure to pave the way for new applications in an already vast industry, especially in lightweight which is key in the emergence of electric vehicles.

At the core of Black Swan’s success is its commitment to fostering partnerships and supply chain integration. By partnering with leading research institutions, academia, and other industry players, the company was able to rapidly achieve the development and commercialization of graphene-based technologies. Black Swan has also planted its flag at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Center (GEIC) in Manchester, where the billion-dollar UAE deal mentioned above originated, which speaks volumes to the strategic positioning of the company. 

One such collaboration is the execution of a multi-year master distributorship agreement in August last year with Gerdau Grafeno Ltda (Gerdau Graphene), a wholly owned subsidiary of Gerdau S. A., focused on the development of chemical additives, mineral additives and masterbatches with graphene.

Gerdau Graphene is collaborating with Black Swan to introduce graphene products and accelerate the adoption of graphene in different industrial applications in the Americas market, including concrete and polymers, where Gerdau Graphene will serve as a value-add distributor. Black Swan supports Gerdau Graphene with its know-how, product optimization and dispersion capabilities in different materials and polymer matrixes, as well as its commercialization capacity.

What recently captured a lot of attention, is the news that Black Swan and Nationwide Engineering Research and Development Ltd. (NERD) announced a strategic partnership embedded in a fully integrated supply chain which includes Arup Group Limited (ARUP), a multinational engineering consultancy headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with 18,000 experts working across 140 countries. Arup is an engineering and construction firm with global reach, which is behind countless very well know infrastructure projects, such as the Opera House in Sydney, the Champlain Bridge in Montreal, the Singapore Airport, and even behind the world’s longest bridge (55km) currently being built in China. On its end, NERD has developed the process to inject Black Swan’s graphene adequately into concrete.

The involvement of Arup seems to be paramount in this partnership as it has developed know-how on how to use this graphene-enhanced concrete in the design of buildings and infrastructure. It also operates at a scale that could attract the attention of the entire construction industry and could trigger a snowball effect for the use of graphene-enhanced concrete globally.

Black Swan already has a producing plant in the United Kingdom but is looking to increase its production significantly and has launched a scoping study to that effect.

The company also entered an agreement with Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. NMG NOU to establish a graphene production capacity within Nouveau Monde’s graphite processing plant currently in operation near Montreal, Canada. The graphite produced at the plant would serve as the feedstock for Black Swan’s processing.

Per the agreement, Black Swan will use Nouveau Monde’s ore grading an average of 4.5% graphitic carbon to create a fully-integrated producing facility from graphite ore through graphite concentrate.

What could also be driving the growth and success of Black Swan is its ability to draw leadership expertise from a cross-functional and experienced team led by its chairman, Harry Swan. Harry Swan is the CEO of Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd, a 100-year-old mid-tier chemical company, which originally developed the graphene technology before the launch of Black Swan Graphene. Not only is Harry Swan the Chairman of Black Swan, but Thomas Swan remains one of the largest shareholders of Black Swan. Michael Edwards, COO of Black Swan, also came from Thomas Swan where he was at the helm of the advanced material division where the technology emerged.

It appears to have solid fundamentals, including the credibility of its technology, the high performance and quality of its graphene products and the low cost and green hydroelectricity of the province of Quebec, and the company says it aims at large-scale industrial applications with a vision to establish a fully integrated “mine to graphene” supply chain and become a pillar of the developing graphene hub in North America and Europe.

Featured photo by angellodeco on Shutterstock.

This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice