BP&R sits down with Kjirstin Breure, HydroGraph’s CEO, to talk about the company’s latest breakthrough discovery: the FGA-1 technology.
Hydrograph
The PET bottles market is expected to reach 30.90 million metric tons by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 4.18% between 2024-2029. PET bottles are lightweight, cost-effective and durable, making them manufacturers’ preferred solution.
However, the PET packaging market faces challenges due to changing regulatory standards, urging companies to turn to eco-friendly packaging materials. Could Hydrograph’s breakthrough discovery be one of the answers? If its FGA-1 technology is fully commercialised with PET:rPET blends of 50:50, the emissions reduction from using 20% less overall PET in bottles with this innovation could represent a reduction of more than 8 million tonnes of CO2.
What is it?
Fractal Graphene is an electrically conductive black powder. It’s the strongest and most conductive material ever discovered. Breure believes that “Our FGA-1 graphene is the most graphene-like graphene produced in bulk."
Hydrograph uses hydrocarbon gases, similar to monolayer graphene production or CVD graphene. Breure says, “You can think of us as bulk CVD or explosion CVD. We have very similar characteristics to CVD graphene. Now that we've uncovered more of how to use graphene, we've realised how lucky it is that we have this brilliant process patented.”
Most graphene is either good for mechanics or conductivity. Hydrograph looked at plastics and concrete and realised that the material could have performance benefits for any industrial application from a technical standpoint.
This discovery came at a critical time for the industry, as Breure explains, “There’s a huge motivation to reduce plastic consumption. This is especially true in the younger generations, but regulations are also taking hold to positively impact this reduction.”
Companies are under increasing pressure to reduce the amount of virgin plastics, which can happen by reducing recycled plastics or adding additives, such as graphene, to enhance mechanical strength.
What role does this discovery play in the plastic packaging industry?
Breure explains, “Our data shows that we can improve the strength by an average of 20%, which leads to less plastic used. We can also decrease the water vapour transmission rate by approximately 83%.”
“Nanomaterials create what we call a tortuous path. The more blocks there are within that material, the better we can decrease the amount of water molecules escaping into the atmosphere. We can also prevent potential contaminants from the atmosphere from finding their way into the water bottle.”
What this ultimately means is better shelf life. Hydrograph looks at customers’ interests to determine their needs. Some want to decrease the amount of plastic they use, so they’d go for the pure mechanical strength benefits. Others look for recyclability, so they may add graphene to their PET to achieve the maximum strength benefits of stacking more bottles. This helps better recycle and save on energy costs because the product is lighter.
Breure continues: “The addition of FGA-1 into PET could mean a reduction of PET plastic by 5 million tonnes annually. That’s a 20% reduction. This figure is assuming absolute commercialisation, but it’s very exciting for the industry regardless.”
The biggest hurdle is cost towards the material and its adoption because using a new material is always risky.Hydrograph is working on collecting data to show customers that integrating graphene is beneficial in the long term. Proof point and regulatory support are necessary to move forward, and as Breure wants to remind us all, “We have a very powerful product that is low-cost for customers but can solve critical problems.”