GRAPHenhance: GRAPHene scaleup for strength ENHANCEd concrete

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).