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Gloucestershire Business News

Producers of wonder material strike latest deal

If there is anything that will not benefit from a sprinkling of the wonder material graphene we will let you know - but for the moment, here's another deal.

Advanced engineering group Versarien plc, the Cheltenham headquartered company is at the forefront of exploring and championing the little-known properties of the material under its brand name Nanene.

Its efforts now seem to be paying off, with announcements of factories in China, deals with tyre makers, cycle manufacturers and even experimental use in toboggans, already on record.

And now the business, famously stated in a back room of his Forest of Dean home by engineer and businessman Neill Ricketts, has signed a collaboration with a FTSE-listed firm.

It has teamed-up with an unnamed manufacturer and supplier of co manufactured and private label consumer products for the household and personal care markets.

Mr Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, said: "We are delighted to have signed this latest consumer goods collaboration.

"The incorporation of graphene into packaging materials has the potential to reduce plastic usage, increase the mechanical strength of packaging materials and improve their ability to be recycled.

"These are important goals for any consumer goods manufacturer as we all seek to reduce the impact of plastic packaging on the environment."

Read more: Versarien wins order from leading tyre manufacturer 

Read more: Government official parachuted into fast-growing business 

Read more: Versarien takes over plastics business in £1.4 million deal  

According to a statement from the firm the collaboration will see both parties working on a number of projects involving the incorporation of Versarien's proprietary Nanene few layer graphene nano-platelets into polymer structures.

The collaboration will aim to provide alternative solutions for packaging and the enhancement of existing products utilising graphene enhanced polymers.

Versarien's new business partner apparently has "multiple manufacturing plants across Europe".

The key potential benefits of the use of graphene in the kinds of packaging systems it uses is the increased performance of a moisture barrier, increased material strength and weight reduction, with a consequent reduction in plastic usage.

Initially the focus will be on the development and evaluation of rigid materials for blow moulded bottles.

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