Currently 80 percent of Brazil's 186 million residents live in urban areas. It is estimated that 20 percent of Brazilians currently live in favelas, or informal, low-income housing settlements in urban areas of Brazil. The construction materials used in favelas is not up to a standard to offer good quality housing. The goal of this project is to build affordable and good quality housing components for low income families living in crowded urban settlements. Brazil is gifted with most abundant natural fibres (derived from plants and agricultural waste products) which are low cost and have high mechanical properties. Hence we will use the low cost, eco- friendly and strong natural fibre such sisal, curauá, coir, banana plant fibres, sugarcane baggage fibres to manufacture high quality construction components such as wall sections and roofs which will be used for low cost but quality housing for low income population living in urban areas of Brazil. These components developed in this project can also be used in portable housing/shades in UK and for temporary shelters used for disaster management (such as temporary shelters to accommodate people displaced due to flooding).

"LiBattene (Lithium BATTeries ENhanced by graphene for improving performance of Electrical vehicles) is a feasibility project focusing on the industrial-scale improvement of lithium ion batteries with the addition of ultra-high-quality graphene in order to achieve enhanced battery life cycle, charging rate and capacity. This project aims to contribute to achieving the UK's government agenda concerned with terminating the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2040 to meet a 2050 reduction target requiring to bring down transport related CO2 emissions by at least 80%. The focus of this project concerns the electric vehicles given that the transport sector currently accounts for about 23% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Graphene is set to play an important role in improving lithium ion batteries in the automotive industry due to its superb flexibility, high electrical conductivity, good mechanical strength and chemical stability. When used as part of the electrode material, graphene can effectively prevent agglomeration of nanoparticles, reduce the size of the active material, improve electron and ion transmission capacity and enhance its mechanical stability. As a result, graphene-containing electrode materials have improved capacity and rate performance. The results of this feasibility project will allow to very clearly map out the advantages of industrial graphene compared to standard carbon additives and will provide clear cost-benefit metrics for this material in automotive lithium-ion applications. The project is planned to make graphene-based material formulations commercially available for use in lithium ion batteries of electric vehicles, in the first instance personal cars and motor bikes and later the whole spectrum of electric vehicles. The project partners include: FGV Cambridge Nanosystems (the project leader), PV3 (industrial partner) and University of Cambridge's Institute for Manufacturing (academic partner). This collaboration will help to create strong links between the nanotechnology / graphene production industry and the academic researchers, which will be beneficial long term in the UK's agenda to reduce the CO2 emissions to almost zero by 2050\."

In 2016, Malaysia produced an average of 38,000 tonnes of solid waste daily. The main components of Malaysian waste are food, plastic and paper, which comprise 60% of overall weight. In order to provide affordable clean environment and healthier public health, it is clear that optimal use of the municipal solid wastes is needed. This research project will address the municipal solid waste issues by evaluating the generation and utilising the municipal solid wastes. We will use paper waste and food waste for the production of methane gas that can be used for various household applications by poor people at affordable cost. The methane biogas produced from the waste will also be used for manufacturing high value graphene nanomaterials using microwave plasma method. We will reuse the waste plastic for developing products such as temporary structures, components of lightweight structures for auto and heavy transport vehicles (bus, trains etc.) flooring and marine structures. We will particularly focus on the manufacturing of high performance sandwich panels consisting of two outer layers (skins) and an internal core composed of recycled plastics.

_Levidian extracts carbon from the world's gas supplies to create hydrogen and graphene._ _Using our patented decarbonisation device -- LOOP - we create carbon negative products capable of driving sustainable economies. Levidian's mission will change the way things are done by applying the materials of the future to the greatest challenge of today - the fight against climate change. Our vision is a decarbonised world: powered by hydrogen and built on graphene._ _Our current challenge is that it is not possible to analyse graphene flakes as they are produced in our reactors nor measure yields in real-time. Samples of graphene are laboriously tested in separate quality control labs, making the process slow as well as costly. It is also impossible to achieve bulk analysis of the graphene powder. Multiple samples must be analysed to determine the range of flake sizes present, and overall quality of the graphene produced._ _The deployment of a network of LOOP devices at partner and client sites around the globe introduces further complications since graphene batches produced at these locations will be a considerable distance away from appropriate QC testing facilities, introducing significant delays to material analysis and validation of product quality._ _Development and implementation of a rapid, in-line characterisation technique would be a valuable tool to accelerate graphene production scale-up and deliver consistent high-quality material to customers, with confidence and reliability. This solution is especially important now, as Levidian deploys its first fully autonomous, mobile graphene production system. Full automation and continuous quality control are essential in this case, as the entire process will be controlled remotely at a great distance from our QC labs._

The project will investigate novel methods of welding future lightweight automotive structures. In particular, the project will consider new methods of Friction Stir Welding to join automotive body structures made of novel lightweight alloys including aluminium, high strength steel and magnesium. The aim is to demonstrate high strength joints by doping the weld with different grades and concentrations of additives which may positively influence the structure of the material in the weld and improve strength. The work builds on existing UK expertise, with the Friction Stir Welding process invented in the UK by The Welding Institute. The new processes will ultimately gives rise to a more durable, stronger and/or lighter joint. The process can also be readily used to join difficult and/or dissimilar lightweight materials of high promise.

As graphene matures, production of the material is scaling up due to applications of the material moving from the lab into commercial sectors. However, a major problem still faced by graphene producers is the ability to rapidly characterise the properties of graphene flakes as industry-scale quantities of graphene powder are generated. FGV Cambridge Nanosystems and the National Physical Laboratory are working together under the iFLAG project to investigate the feasibility of rapid analysis techniques that can be used to monitor graphene produced in a real-world graphene reactor. This will enable near real-time analysis of the flakes, speeding up the characterisation process and allowing rapid iteration of equipment modifications needed as the reactors are scaled up to meet increasing industry demand for graphene.

Offshore wind is considered a key sector for meeting national and international targets with respect to sustainability, energy security, and low electricity prices. As offshore wind costs are decreasing and existing technical difficulties are overcome, the majority of new installations in the UK and abroad are expected to be located in Northern areas where wind resources are abundant but climates are cold and icing conditions are common. Ice protection is essential for the operation of wind turbines operating in cold climates. Ice accretion on the blades of turbines can significantly increase operational costs, lower energy output, and decrease turbine lifetime. This project will develop WIN-D-ICE, a new system which provides automatic ice protection by combining existing state-of-the-art anti- and de- icing technologies. The system will achieve maximum performance at minimum costs and energy use by using sensors to detect ice on the blades and specialised software to automatically control system operation. WIN-D-ICE will act as a catalyst enabling further growth of offshore to achieve national and international commitments and targets with respect to renewables, energy costs, and energy security for the benefit of us all.

The FIREne feasibility study will investigate the flame retardant performance of graphene-based coatings patented by FGV Cambridge Nanosystems Ltd in industry-standard fire tests for building components. Collaboration between CNS and researchers from the University of Cambridge's Centre for Natural Material Innovation will optimise the coating for flame retardancy in collaboration with the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. In practice, the coating will provide an alternative to conventional intumescent coatings (used as benchmark), which expand with heat and insulate the wood from elevated temperatures.

Cambridge Nanosystems aims to become the leading supplier of graphene flakes suitable for a wide range of industries. The company has developed a novel process for the continuous synthesis of graphene from microwave plasma. Unlike existing methods this process can be easily scaled up while maintaining extremely low capital and operating costs. This is because our system directly converts natural gas with extremely high yield and already runs at a kg/h scale. No chemicals or catalyst are required. Together these features give an unparalleled approached for graphene production.