Imagine Intelligent Materials Pty Ltd (“Imagine IM”) opened Australia’s first commercial graphene plant in Geelong today. The pilot plant will produce up to 10 tonnes of graphene per year. It was built for Imagine IM by Geelong-based engineering company, Australian Engineering Solutions Pty. Ltd (“Austeng”)
Imagine IM has developed a graphene coating technology that enables the production of a world-first conductive geotextile that will be manufactured and launched into the Australian marketplace by Victorian-based Geofabrics Australasia later in 2016.
Chris Gilbey, CEO of Imagine IM said, “Graphene is a material that is critical to the future of advanced manufacturing globally. Imagine IM’s focus is on developing applications that utilize the amazing properties of graphene to enable the manufacture of transformative smart textiles, fibres and membranes. The challenge is to enable integration into manufacturing and to deliver product at scale. Our initial pilot plant will serve the needs of Geofabrics over the next two years and will provide sufficient graphene for other products that are currently in R&D. The commissioning of this plant positions Imagine IM as one of the few graphene companies anywhere in the world with a path to market. Geelong can now consider itself the Graphene capital of Australia.”
According to Ross George, MD of Austeng, “We were determined to be involved in bringing graphene manufacturing to Geelong by fabricating Australia’s first commercial graphene manufacturing plant for Imagine IM. We love the vision that Imagine IM has and believe that building Imagine IM’s initial plant will lead to Austeng developing the skills and knowledge to build further plants that will be exported to the world.”
Phil Aitchison, COO and Head of R&D at Imagine IM, says, “This project has involved all roads leading to Geelong. Austeng came highly recommended as tech enablers and unrelatedly, we have undertaken R&D work at both CSIRO in Geelong and Deakin University. Geelong is one of the most innovative Australian cities in which to work.”
