Abu Dhabi: The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, The University of Manchester and the Defence Services Marketing Council (DSMC) have announced the successful gathering of defence and aerospace professionals to discuss cutting-edge research on promising new ‘super materials’.
The Partnering to Achieve Innovation in Defence and Aerospace (PAIDA) Working Group meeting also highlighted the emerging research collaboration between Masdar Institute and the University of Manchester on graphene and two-dimensional (2D) materials.
The PAIDA Working Group meeting, titled ‘Graphene: UAE’s Masdar Institute and University of Manchester Advanced Materials Centre of Excellence for Energy and Aerospace and Defence Applications’, held recently at the Masdar Institute campus, provided industry and government stakeholders the unique opportunity to discuss the graphene and 2D materials research collaboration being established between the two institutions and explore opportunities to engage in the development of these exciting technologies.
The new generation of 2D materials has the potential to revolutionise future technologies in the defence and aerospace sectors.
Graphene, which is considered a ‘super material’, is 200 times stronger than steel yet incredibly lightweight and flexible with excellent thermal and electrical conductivity. It may find commercial application in the aviation, energy and defence industries, as well as water purification and treatment and more efficient desalination.
Market intelligence firm IDTechEx Research predicts graphene markets will grow from around $20 million (Dh73.46 million) in 2014 to more than $390 million in 2024 at the material level.
Speaking at the event, Dr Steve Griffiths, Executive Director, Office of Institute Initiatives, Masdar Institute, said, “Masdar Institute is privileged to attract this esteemed array of experts to Abu Dhabi with the support of stakeholders including the University of Manchester and the DSMC.”
As a headline speaker at the event, Dr.Abdelqader Abusafieh, Head of R&D, Mubadala Aerospace, provided a top-level perspective of how graphene can improve electrical, thermal and mechanical applications in aerospace, expressing particular interest in the potential impact that graphene could have on protecting aircraft from lightning strikes.
He also touched on the challenges facing the commercialisation of graphene and other 2D materials, and emphasised the important role industry-university collaborations play in getting these applications to the market.
“In order to speed up the commercialisation of these graphene-based products, we need to think about specific graphene applications, and align research and development efforts towards these products, keeping the university-industry relationship strong from conception through to manufacturing,” Dr Abusafieh said.
Another headline speaker, James Baker, Business Director, Graphene, The University of Manchester, said, “We are pleased to work with Masdar Institute from the academic side, and we are continuously looking for industries that we can partner with in order to produce commercially valuable applications of graphene and advanced 2D materials.”
John Devine, First Secretary (Defence and Security), British Embassy Abu Dhabi, remarked, “We are pleased to see the continued collaboration at this working group level between the UAE and UK in advanced R&D with Masdar Institute and The University of Manchester on the cutting edge of the defence and aerospace sectors with this graphene super material.”
Dr Aravind Vijayaraghavan, Lecturer in Nanomaterials and Nano-functional Materials Group Leader at The University of Manchester, also addressed the gathering.
Many graphite junior mining companies have been stating that they are going to be selling graphite for the battery application, specifically into electric cars. This quick report is to show the approximate magnitude of this market. The public focus has been on Tesla Motors Inc. and their plans for a giga factory that is projected to have the capacity to produce half a million electric cars per year. This is only part of the story.
A total annual worldwide production of approximately six million electric cars is commonly projected by the year by 2020.
Note: this projection only includes full electric vehicles and doesn’t include hybrids, or any other use of lithium ion batteries.
As a first approximation there will be about 265 kg of graphite per car. As there are 6 carbon atoms required to store one proton, 0.00107 grams of carbon is required for each watt assuming a 50% efficiency of storage and 1.5V battery cells.
The 85 kWhr battery in the Tesla model S would then require an estimated 327 kg of graphite. The range of the car is about 450 km, meaning that 0.77 kg of graphite is required per km of range. The power required can be assumed proportional to the mass of the vehicle when equivalent rolling and air resistances are assumed. The Tesla model S has a mass of 2112 kg. Thus, 0.364 grams of graphite is required per (kg*km).
What is does number mean? Multiply this number by a car weight (kg) and range (km) and you get the approximate amount of graphite that is required in the car’s batteries. If you assume the average mass of car, which in 2010 was 1,818 kg, and a range of 400 km, then the average car requires 265 kg of graphite.
The amount of graphite required for annual car production can be estimated using the average mass of graphite per car and a projection of the number of cars manufactured. This is shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Estimated electric car graphite consumption. Assumes an average range of 400 km, vehicle mass of 1,818 kg and battery specific graphite of 0.364 g/(kg*km) resulting in an average of 265 kg per vehicle.
The projected number of electric cars sold per year in 2020 is about six million. That is 1.59 million tonnes of graphite. Where is all this graphite going to come from? The differential, or the amount of graphite demand increase each year indicates that one, or more, 100,000 tonne per year mines could open each year solely dedicated to electric cars and this market would not be filled.
The graphite will be artificial, natural graphite flakes or natural graphite that has been “balled”. The choice will be economic subject to availability. It is likely, that as long as the quality can be met, the supply will be natural, followed by ball graphite with the remainder being artificial. The economic reason for this is shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Price comparison of the graphite found in the average car battery
How does this affect the graphite mining industry? The use of natural graphite in these batteries is almost an economic necessity in order to make the vehicles available at a reasonable cost.
The total amount of natural graphite currently produced that is applicable to batteries is approximately 50,000 tonnes and this source is shared with cell phones, tablets and laptops. The exact amount doesn’t matter; it is simply a statement that such graphite is currently not produced in the quantity required and that the expansion of the electric car may be limited by this shortage.
This can be alleviated to some extent by the production of ball graphite from larger flakes of graphite. However, the supply still isn’t there. This leaves artificial (pyrolytic) graphite meet this market; at an obvious cost.
The conclusion is that graphite at a reasonable cost is already in short supply and will become critical to the development of the automotive industry in the next few years.
As events accelerate matters the differences between SL Vein and Flake will become painfully obvious in my opinion.
MRL Corporation is racing ahead at this point now that it has the Capital to achieve its targets. It is of vital importance that they use this Capital in mind of specific goals and results that offer the most return on investment in my opinion...
Kind Regards
DYOR !!!
To Err is Human!!!
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