Talga Group (ASX: TLG) announced positive results from initial real-life trials of its Talcoat graphene additive for marine coatings.
In a press release, the Western Australia-based company said a Talcoat-enhanced primer coating was first applied to a 33,000-tonne container ship late in 2019, in what was considered the world’s largest single application of graphene. The commercial-scale trial was later extended to include a second similar-sized container ship.
According to Talga, on the first ship, Robin 1, visual inspection over 15 months of service indicates the graphene product is matching or exceeding commercial standards.
On the first ship, Robin 1, visual inspection over 15 months of service indicates the graphene product is matching or exceeding commercial standards
Due to travel and access restrictions, including change in ownership of the two cargo ships, detailed physical testing of Robin 1 and review of the second ship coating is yet to be completed. However, the firm said that as soon as access is reinstated, further testing will be carried out.
“We are very pleased to see this large-scale demonstration of Talga’s graphene successfully working in the tough conditions of commercial shipping,” the company’s managing director, Mark Thompson, said in the brief. “Additionally, as we can now produce our graphene as a by-product of our battery anode manufacturing process, we are demonstrating a global leading low-cost and scalable graphene additive supply for large-volume industrial products.”
Talga owns several high-grade Swedish graphite projects, where the graphene for its coatings is produced and is engaged with partners in the UK government to build an anode refinery in Great Britain.
The miner’s Vittangi project near Kiruna in northern Sweden has the highest resource grade of any JORC/NI 43-101 graphite deposit in the world at 12.3Mt at 25.5% graphite (“Cg”).
