Public Funding for Graphene Innovations Manchester Ltd

The growing demand for the production, storage and transportation of hydrogen -- as one of the most sustainable sources of clean energy - in most transportation sectors (e.g. aerospace) has been the main driver for this project. **Production**: ASG's in-house highly-efficient plastic recycling process, using Flash Joule Heating (FJH) is capable of utilising minimal electrical energy to transform plastics or biomass into **high-quality graphene** and **hydrogen gas**. These hydrogen gases can be transformed into clean compressed hydrogen ready for use in the market through UoM's Electrochemical H2 purification and compression process. **Storage**: With the lighter all-composite (Type-V) tanks yet to demonstrate the ability to remain impermeable at cryogenic conditions and the need of various sectors (e.g., aerospace) for lightweight solutions, HyPStore aspires to develop and commercialise an **impermeable cryogenic all-composite tank** for **liquid H2 storage**, by bringing together: * **GIM**'s **novel** **all-composite tank manufacturing process** combining dry filament winding with nanomaterial inclusion (graphene nanoplatelets). Multi-layered graphene has been demonstrated to **decrease hydrogen permeability by up to 48 times**, consequently forming a protective barrier and making the tank impermeable. * **FGR** will utilise the graphitic materials produced via the FJH process to manufacture a diverse array of graphene nanoplatelets tailored for optimal performance in CPV manufacturing by GIM. * **QMUL's** developed **self-healing systems** that fully or partially **treat matrix microcracks** created during the operation of the tank due to storing H2 at cryogenic conditions. * **BUL's** expertise in **LBB design features** in a prearranged design pattern, which under reaching certain loading conditions (e.g., over-pressurisation), will **act as stress concentration** points, creating a coalescing crack/leak path for the pressure relief of the tank and avoiding the catastrophic consequences of a burst. * **UniSQ's** great experience in fire-retardant coating combining high-fire retardance, good durability to resist aging and chemical erosion, high toughness to resist external impact, and low gas permeability. **Utilisation**: This market-driven project is supported by the participation of 2 aerospace industrial partners: (i) **Slingsby,** an aerospace Tier-1 supplier seeking to expand their commercial offerings by exploiting a pioneer all-composite tank and (ii) **HASL** (direct end-user/customer) who is keen to integrate HyPStore as LH2 fuel tanks onboard their hydrogen-driven High Altitude Platform capable of delivering ubiquitous high-bandwidth low-latency connectivity.

The FLAWLESS project aims to will develop a new manufacturing technique based on **multi-nozzle, traversing winding head for filament winding** enabling production of composite high-pressure vessels with significantly reduced weight and production speeds. This technology is aimed at meeting the rapidly increasing demand for hydrogen storage tanks, acting as an enabling technology for the UK to meet its ambition is to gain a 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030\. Lightweight hydrogen storage vessels are of particular importance for, aviation - FlyZero (established by the Aerospace Technology Institute and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) has concluded that aviation will become environmentally and economically unsustainable if it does not decarbonise and thar **liquid hydrogen** is the only aircraft fuel able to achieve this for **commercial air travel**. FlyZero has further concluded that "window of opportunity" for launching development of hydrogen powered aircraft is short and could be closed by 2025 if the airframers decide to develop conventionally powered aircraft instead., making the development of this technology very timely. The **main areas of focus** will be Type IV and Type V, composite pressure vessels. The specific markets identified for the technology are: Breathing tanks for firefighting and SCUBA diving (low-risk/low-impact), hydrogen powered automotive vehicles (medium-risk/medium-impact) and hydrogen powered aircraft (high-risk/high-impact). The particular emphasis in FLAWLESS is on liquid hydrogen tanks for aerospace, potentially enabling commercially of these for the first time. FLAWLESS is led and will be delivered by Graphene Innovations Manchester Ltd (GIM), an ambitious UK micro business that develops innovative processing technologies and materials for composite technologies that include graphene materials.