Carbon Waters technology: a breakthrough innovation

Where does the graphite,
the main raw material, come from?

Top-quality graphite is essential to meet our specific requirements and guarantee high-quality products. Our graphene-based additives are currently obtained from amorphous natural graphite.

However, Carbon Waters is committed to a more sustainable and safer industrial environment. This is already reflected in a number of actions: environmentally-friendly manufacturing process, development of non-toxic protective coatings, more durable materials with improved thermal or mechanical resistance, and solutions for optimizing battery management, to name but a few. This is why we are now extending our graphite sourcing to include other carbon-based raw materials such as biochar or graphite obtained as a co-product of a responsible industrial process, as part of a circular economy approach.

This strategy aims to secure a new source of graphite and implement a more environmentally responsible supply chain.

How is Carbon Waters increasing its production capacity?

Following several years of R&D, the commissioning of a first production unit marks the start of a pre-industrialisation phase for Carbon Waters.

Faced with growing demand for advanced materials, Carbon Waters is now ensuring regular production of pre-dispersed graphene and high-performance additives for demanding sectors such as polymers, conductivity and other industrial applications.

This scale-up is underpinned by a rigorously controlled process that guarantees reproducibility and consistent product quality. By controlling the manufacturing process, Carbon Waters is able to offer reliable, compliant solutions to manufacturers.
As part of a continuous process of optimisation, this unit also standardises manufacturing processesand enhances the quality and effectiveness of our additives.

It forms a solid basis for the future deployment of other units to meet the technological challenges of tomorrow.

How does Carbon Waters
produce its graphene?

Carbon Waters has mastered the chemical exfoliation process. This is a top-down approach for obtaining graphene dispersions from graphite. Here are the main steps in our innovative process.

Preparation of a Graphite Intercalation Compound (GIC) and exfoliation

The first step is to prepare a Graphite Intercalation Compound (GIC), obtained by reacting alkali metals with graphite.

The GIC is mixed with an organic solvent and exfoliated in solution to convert graphite composed of several thousand layers to Few-Layer Graphene (FLG).

Purification and production of Organic Graphene Dispersions (OGD)

Once the residual graphite has been removed, a graphenide solution is obtained. It is composed of small, negatively charged graphene sheets dispersed in an organic solvent.

This solution is then oxidized to produce organic graphene dispersions, which can be transferred into water to produce a highly stable aqueous graphene dispersion, after evaporation of the solvent, or into a matrix: this is the enrichment step. At the end of the process, the solvent is recovered, recycled and reused.

Enrichments

This innovative process opens up a host of possibilities for the use of graphene in industrial applications.

Carbon Waters' expertise goes beyond the production of stable, high-quality graphene. Our dedicated team adapts to the technical specifications and needs of our customers, adding our graphene to a wide range of matrices (paints, varnishes, resins, polymers, etc.), while ensuring that our products remain homogeneous, stable and compatible with their production processes.

Infinite possibilities for your materials

As our process is made up of a succession of steps, it’s important to optimize each one to guarantee excellent quality in every production run.