Talga Resources Ltd, a technology materials development company, has announced plans to build a demonstration-scale graphene production plant in Germany. The plant is expected to cost less than A$1 million and have an annual graphene output of between 100-200 tpa. The decision to establish the plant in Germany was made due to the interest in the company's development by graphene technologists and end-users requiring large sample sizes. Talga is forming a German subsidiary company to build and operate the plant. The proposed plant will be the first in the world to commercially demonstrate true direct ore to graphene process technology.
Technology materials development company, Talga Resources Ltd (ASX: TLG) is pleased to advise it will build and commission a demonstration-scale graphene production plant in central Germany.
While all costings and engineering are subject to final design work, it is anticipated the plant will cost less than A$ 1 million and post commissioning can scale-up to generate an approximate annual graphene output of between100-200 tpa.
The decision to establish the plant in Germany followed considerable interest in the Company’s development by graphene technologists and end-users requiring near term large sample sizes. Talga originally anticipated establishing a pilot scale plant in northern Sweden close to its world-class graphite deposits, however, the opportunity to expeditiously produce larger samples to meet development demand created an imperative to set up the initial facility in Germany. While the demonstration plant will allow fast tracking of trial product, Talga expects its future full-scale processing to be undertaken in Sweden. As a consequence, Talga is forming a wholly owned German subsidiary company, to both build the demonstration scale plant and capitalise oncommercial opportunities presenting themselves in this region. The subsidiary will have responsibility to build and operate the locked-cycle demonstration plant in central Germany where both current Talga graphene development programs are operating.
Sites are presently being shortlisted and the ultimate location will ensure that state-of-the-art equipment is available for process optimisation, characterisation and product formulation, in an area home to many potential end users of Talga’s graphene products.
The proposed plant will be the first in the world to commercially demonstrate true direct ore to graphene process technology capable of delivering industrial volumes for customer samples and/or
sale. This can remove roadblocks of volume and cost on the path to graphene commercialisation and enable end users to accelerate development of their graphene-based products. It is expected that, pending Swedish trial mining approval in Q2 2015, graphite ore from Sweden will be transported directly by rail/road to the demonstration plant for maiden processing in Q3 2015.
German Government Involvement
German government district agencies have offered a choice of industrial parks with existing suitable premises for lease, advantageous material processing permitting and close proximity to Talga research program graphene analytics. The agencies, State Development Corporation of Thuringia (“LEG”) and the Saxony Economic Development Corporation (“SED”), have a mandate to grow industrial technology clusters around research expertise and are strongly encouraging Talga to establish a local presence. Both offer a wide range of operational and investment incentives including non refundable loans (essentially grants) for up to 35% of fixed asset expenditure, public guarantees, labour incentives and generous R & D rebates. Talga is currently conducting due diligence on the financial incentive packages and site location proposals put to the Company.
Plant Technical Manager Appointed
Underpinning the German plant decision, Talga has appointed Dr Georg Hochwimmer (Director of German company General Research GmbH) as Talga’s resident German Technical Manager to coordinate:
- The establishment of a 100% owned German subsidiary company for Talga, to be called Talga Advanced Materials GmbH;
- Finalisation of the demonstration plant design;
- Construction and commissioning of the plant; and
- Continued liaison with Talga’s collaborating research organisations and industry.
Dr Hochwimmer is a former polymer chemist and material scientist who has worked for BASF and othertechnology companies in Germany. He has strong relationships with industrial groups developing graphene applications in Europe.
Talga Managing Director Mr Thompson said “The decision to proceed with a demonstration plant followed Talga’s success in moving its high-grade Swedish graphite ores from laboratory to bench top scale and replicating graphene process results in multiple countries with several parties.
The next stage of development will expand to a locked-cycle demonstration scale plant able to produce meaningful quantities of graphene and by-product graphite for larger customer samples and/or material graphene sales in 2015. Pending fnal design, the new German plant has the potential to be one of the largest graphene production facilities in Europe.”