Australia’s First Commercial Graphene Plant Opens

The first commercial graphene plant in Australia opened Wednesday in Geelong, the facility’s operator Imagine Intelligent Materials Pty Ltd announced by press release.

Discovered in 2003, graphene is a two-dimensional carbon atomic scale material that is expected to play a large role in the future production of electronics, mining, energy storage products, and other advanced manufacturing uses. Stronger than steel and harder than a diamond, graphene is the most water resistant material yet identified, is completely impermeable to gasses, and is the most electrically conductive material known.

“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 product at scale,” said Chris Gllbey, chief executive officer of Imagine IM, in the release. “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.”

Expected to produce up to 10 tons of the material annually, the plant was constructed by Australian Engineering Solutions Pty. Imagine IM developed a graphene coating technology that makes production of conductive geotextiles possible, the company said.

BCC Research predicts the global market for graphene products will hit $1.3 billion by 2023.