Public Funding for William Blythe Limited

Direct-emissions from cement calcination (CaCO3-\>CO2+CaO), combined with concrete-related process-emissions (transport, process-energy etc), represent \>7% of global emissions. NERD's patented Graphene-Enhanced-Concrete (GEC), CONCRETENE(r), offers a pathway to mass-decarbonisation of the concrete-sector, but large-scale exploitation is currently blocked by material-manufacturing and supply-chain challenges. The **GRAPHenhance project vision** is to address these challenges to unlock CONCRETENE's decarbonisation potential. CONCRETENE is a graphene-enhanced admixture for concrete, engineered to enhance performance and sustainability, and the first GEC to reach commercial-scale pilots globally. The technology allows for reduced concrete volume and cement content to achieve equivalent structural performance, delivering significantly reduced carbon footprint (up to 30%) vs OPC. The key to CONCRETENE's performance is the dispersion of Graphene-Nanoplatelets(GNPs) within the material structure. This dispersion is stabilised using Graphene-Oxide(GO) (secondary graphene-component), which prevents GNP aggregation, enables graphene(GNP+GO) loading of 3-6% (~5x higher graphene-concentration than state-of-the-art), and provides a second mechanism of strength-enhancement (see Appendix\_Q3). Although other GECs are in development, most are non-structural. The few structural-GECs in development have so far failed to overcome the GNP-dispersion challenge. Existing approaches result in the incorporation of excess-air, reducing structural-performance and longevity. No other GEC in-development uses the GO-stabilisation approach patented by NERD. GO supply currently represents a major bottleneck to CONCRETENE commercialisation. NERD currently source from China, presenting challenges including batch-to-batch variability (sp2-carbon-speciation up to 4%-variance, sp3-carbon-speciation up to 8%-variance, sulfur-containing-species up to 1.6%-variance), price-volatility, and import-tariffs. Similarly, NERD source GNP from Canadian Black-Swan-Graphene(BSG) via their UK-based partner-organisation, Thomas-Swan(TS), but the current product is not optimised for CONCRETENE, and needs to be scaled-up (in the UK) to meet future-demand. **GRAPHenhance** will pave-the-way for upscaled UK nanomaterial production-capacity, with a **main-focus** on GO (manufacturing by William-Blythe) and GNPs (manufacturing by Thomas-Swan) tailored to CONCRETENE's requirements. GRAPEHhance will overcome challenges relating to NERD's GO and GNP supplies (batch-to-batch variability, residual-surfactants) to finalise CONCRETENE's supply-chain and material composition- prerequisites to accreditation and large-scale commercialisation. **Key objectives**: * To optimise UK-supply of GNP * To determine GO-specifications, enabling post-project negotiation for a commercial-supply agreement between WB and NERD * To validate performance of manufactured GO and GNP in CONCRETENE with graphene-loading at 3-6% * To validate the resulting CONCRETENE formulation in an industrial-pilot (transport-sector) against standard durability testing (ATSM\_C642/C1293/C452/C1138) **GRAPHenhance** partners: * **Nationwide-Engineering-Research-and-Development(****NERD****)**: SME, owner of CONCRETENE technology. * **William-Blythe(WB)**: Leading chemicals innovator, part of Synthomer Group (FTSE-250). * **Thomas-Swan(TS)** (supported by Black-Swan-Graphene(BSG))**:** Speciality-chemicals manufacturer, developer of GNP IP (IP owned by BSG).

In civil and mechanical engineering, the design process is done almost entirely by computer. Similarly, a long-held goal in formulated product (FP) design is to shift from an ad-hoc labour-intensive process towards a more robust and adaptive computer aided formulation (CAF) paradigm. Significant progress has been made over the last two decades in utilizing computational methods to aid in the development of formulated products and materials characterisation and discovery. The foundation industries in the UK have continued in the face of competition due to their ability to innovate, and add value to the products manufactured in the UK, frequently achieved through the application of a functional coating to address a specific market need. The ability to turn innovations from concept to coating faster, is what will let the foundation industries compete better. The ability to optimize the product and process for cost, quality, energy and material efficiency, without taking more development time is a key enabler for future growth. This project will take a whole supply chain view on the readiness of digital technologies to augment and enhance the traditional formulation process, and the ability to capture the knowledge of the experts in the process in terms of manufacture of constituents, application process, through a the digital-first process. This consortium, including metals, glass and bulk and speciality chemicals supply chain will seek to demonstrate a digital led approach to preparing a formulation for spray deposition on two different kinds of substrate systems, one for the glass sector, and one for steel. While we will focus on antimicrobial coatings, our approach will derisk similar approaches with many different products, different substrates, different application mechanisms, bringing together national centres of expertise with industry partners. Overall this will enable us to produce high value products at lower cost and with lower energy consumption.

"The Synergy project is focused on developing a step change in performance and environmental friendliness of lithium ion batteries to meet the needs of electric vehicles. It brings together the raw material, formulation, electrochemical knowledge and cell manufacture capabilities of Synthomer Plc (including Synthomer's polymer development team in Harlow and inorganic material team at William Blythe in Accrington) the Centre for Process Innovation and AGM Batteries Ltd. The project will lead to manufacturing and performance improvements in the anode system. It will also focus on methods to improve the safety and environmental profile of cathode systems. The combined improvements are expected to reduce the costs of cell manufacture and help to realise the range and power output needed for the next generation of electric vehicles. The project is well suited to capture and exploit the value of electrode materials and lithium ion cell manufacture by establishing a robust UK supply chain."

"One of the big challenges for electric vehicles is to meet the peak power requirements in all modes of operation, at all ambient temperatures. The automotive council has set targets for the power density of Li-ion batteries to quadruple by 2035\. This project will develop, test and scale-up new ultra-high-power cells for electric vehicle batteries that have very high peak power handling capability, whilst improving on the energy density of competitive high-power energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors. The main application for such cells will be in the improved delivery of peak power handling in EV main traction batteries. The consortium will also seek to exploit the technology in other applications including use in fast charge stations, public transport, UPS and military applications. A project consortium led by QinetiQ and comprising Echion Technologies Ltd, University College London, the University of Birmingham and William Blythe will scale-up and prove the manufacturability of high-performance electrode materials developed on pilot plants at University College London and Echion Technologies Ltd. The project will deliver improved ultra-high-power cells to demonstrate the technology."

The UK Niche Vehicle Battery Cell Supply Chain project brings together niche vehicle manufacturers and Tier1 developers and suppliers with the UKs only Li-ion cell manufacturer, a UK materials manufacturer, an automotive supply chain specialist and three prominent Research and Technology Organisations. It addresses a problem that affects many developers and manufacturers of specialist products that rely on batteries. Although Li-ion technology was invented in the UK, it was the Japanese technology giant Sony that commercialised and brought the first Li-ion products to market. The UK is very strong on battery technology research. This project aims to bridge the gap between research and product and to bring battery cell manufacture to the UK. We're doing this in a very focused way, where we can support one of the UKs strong existing manufacturing sectors, niche vehicles, helping it to thrive in the new world of vehicle electrification. The volume of cells required by this industry are manageable by global production standards and play to the UKs strengths of high performance, quality and customisation. This is the first step to creating a significant UK industry.

he Lithium Sulfur: Future Automotive Battery (LiS:FAB) project will develop a next generation cell and module that is suitable for large electric vehicles such as trucks and buses. It will deliver a 400 Wh/kg Li-S cell that has the significantly improved power and cycle life required by large automotive applications. This cell will allow buses and trucks to carry significantly more payload and due to the abundant cell construction materials, cost less. The module cell and module state of health and charge (SoH & SoC) will be improved, along with the manufacturability. The project is split into 4 work packages: Cell Performance By building on past projects that increased cell specific energy (Wh/kg), further improvements will be made to cycle life, power and cell design to meet the performance and safety needs of EVs. OXIS, UCL and William Blythe will utilise new materials to improve performance and characterise electrodes and cells using X-ray tomography and other techniques to accelerate development. WAE will advise on cell design. Cell Characterisation Extensive testing of cells will be carried out to inform development. This will include rigorous safety tests, rapid test protocols/formation studies, degradation/abuse analysis. Software tools will also be further developed from the REVB project to allow analysis of large amounts of test data. Cell Manufacturability BPE will lead the design of a pilot facility for the cells that are developed on this project. OXIS and Ceetak will develop critical pouch cell sealing technology required to make a robust automotive cell. OXIS and UCL will develop a novel, non-invasive X-Ray quality control process for cells. Module Development OXIS and Cranfield will build on the control algorithms developed on the earlier REVB project to better predict SoC and SoH and to create intelligent charging algorithms to improve lifetime. Cell matching and module construction techniques will be investigated and a final module will be demonstrated. The LiS:FAB project will deliver multiple improvements for EVs and the technology developed will be applicable to wider markets such as aerospace, space and energy storage.

Despite the UN's declared Human Right to Water Policy, almost 30% of the world's population does not have access to safe drinking water. Membrane-based water purification systems are a critical technology solution to address the global challenges of poor water quality, pollution of aquatic surface water sources, and water scarcity. Overcoming the inherent limitations of conventional membrane materials to purify contaminated water at low cost while retaining high water flux is necessary to provide the next generation of point-of-use water purification systems. G2O has developed a graphene oxide based coating technology that has shown excellent separation of organic contaminants along with increased water flux through the membranes. The combination of high throughput and low pressure makes the technology suitable for point-of-use water purification systems. The project aims to develop an industrially scalable process for manufacturing of these membranes via development of a robust formulation for printing the GO-based coating onto the membrane substrate. Development of prototype modules using these membranes will allow the consortium to validate its performance and benchmark it against incumbent systems during the project.