GRAPHenhance: GRAPHene scaleup for strength ENHANCEd concrete

GRAPHenhance：增强混凝土强度的 GRAPHene 放大

• 批准号: 10080584
• 金额: $ 75.95万
• 依托单位: NATIONWIDE ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10080584
• 关键词: GRAPHenhance; GRAPHene; scaleup; strength; ENHANCEd

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).

水泥煅烧产生的直接排放（CaCO 3-\>CO2+CaO），加上与混凝土相关的过程排放（运输、过程能源等），占全球排放量的7%以上。NERD的专利石墨烯增强混凝土（GEC），CONCRETENE（r），为混凝土行业的大规模脱碳提供了一条途径，但大规模开采目前受到材料制造和供应链挑战的阻碍。**GRAPHenhance项目的愿景 ** 是解决这些挑战，释放混凝土的脱碳潜力。混凝土是一种石墨烯增强的混凝土外加剂，旨在提高性能和可持续性，也是全球第一个达到商业规模试点的GEC。该技术可以减少混凝土体积和水泥含量，以实现同等的结构性能，与OPC相比，显著减少碳足迹（高达30%）。CONCRETENE性能的关键是石墨烯纳米片（GNP）在材料结构中的分散。该分散体使用石墨烯氧化物（GO）（第二石墨烯组分）稳定，其防止GNP聚集，使得石墨烯（GNP+GO）负载量为3-6%（石墨烯浓度比现有技术高约5倍），并提供第二种强度增强机制（参见下文）。到目前为止，开发中的少数结构GEC未能克服GNP分散的挑战。现有的方法导致过量空气的引入，降低了结构性能和寿命。没有其他正在开发的GEC使用NERD专利的GO稳定方法。GO供应目前是混凝土商业化的主要瓶颈。NERD目前来自中国，面临的挑战包括批次间的差异性（sp2-碳-物种高达4%-方差，sp3-碳-物种高达8%-方差，含硫物种高达1.6%-方差），价格波动和进口关税。同样，NERD通过其位于英国的合作伙伴组织Blackas-Swan（TS）从加拿大Black-Swan-Graphene（BSG）获得GNP，但目前的产品并未针对混凝土进行优化，需要扩大（在英国）以满足未来需求。GRAPHenhance** 将为英国纳米材料生产能力的升级铺平道路，主要关注GO（由William-Blythe制造）和GNP GRAPEHhance将克服与NERD的GO和GNP供应相关的挑战（批次间可变性，残留表面活性剂），以最终确定混凝土的供应链和材料成分-认证和大规模商业化的先决条件。**主要目标 **：* 优化英国GNP的供应 * 确定GO规范，以便WB和NERD之间就商业供应协议进行项目后谈判 * 验证石墨烯负载量为3-6%的CONCRETENE中制造的GO和GNP的性能 * 根据标准耐久性测试（ATSM\_C642/C1293/C452/C1138）在工业试点（运输部门）中验证所得的CONCRETENE配方 ** GRAPHenergy ** 合作伙伴：* Nationwide-Engineering-Research-and-Development（*NERD*）**：SME，CONCRETENE技术的所有者。* **William-Blythe（WB）**：领先的化学品创新者，Synthomer Group（FTSE-250）的一部分。** BAS-Swan（TS）**（由Black-Swan-Graphene（BSG）支持）**：** 特种化学品制造商，GNP IP（BSG拥有的IP）开发商。