JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Advanced materials company Talga Resources is seeking to unlock early commercialisation opportunities from its pilot plant facility in Germany by manufacturing targeted fit-for-purpose graphene products.

Through four specific graphene products, including coatings, polymer composites, building products and energy storage/harvesting, the company will complement its supply of raw graphene and graphite materials.

ASX-listed Talga on Tuesday outlined that development of these product lines was in addition to the supply of raw graphene and graphite materials, which had been the company’s focus to date.

The new strategy is a progression made possible by the growth of the pilot plant, which includes equipment scale up and a significant boost to the company’s technical team, enabling this new applied products capability and expedited path to associated sources of revenue.

Talga will now direct its pilot plant output and future revenue focus to four targeted products, including a metal pretreatment coating; an electrically conductive ink; a conductive cement product and a high performance membrane for energy storage/harvesting.

Market researcher Freedonia estimates current global membrane demand valued at $17.5-billion.

Talga believes its strategy to produce tailored products and the continued expansion of production capabilities will provide the most effective, near-term opportunities for commercialisation.

In-house and industry partner testing programmes, as well as field and benchmarking product trials will continue and be expanded to confirm performance results and support commercialisation progress.

MD Mark Thompson said that Talga’s pilot scale graphene processing accomplishments in Rudolstadt and growing commercial relationships had provided the company with a clear picture of new emerging opportunities and how best to capitalise on these in the shorter term.

“We have assessed dozens of market opportunities that have led us to focus on specific targeted large volume applications, enabling us to move faster to products, hand in hand with the raw materials. This approach is intended to create a platform from which Talga can secure validation and commitments from customers before full scale production,” he added.