According to Zen, the grant may potentially help achieve the goal to provide cement-based composite products to the Ontario market by possibly early 2020. The grantor will reimburse 50% up to a maximum of $1,000,000 spent by ZEN on relevant expenses directly related to graphite purification, graphene production research, concrete additive research and large-scale graphene-enhanced concrete testing.
ZEN is currently developing a graphene-enhanced concrete additive in collaboration with the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia-Okanogan campus that has the potential to increase the strength of concrete by 40%. The graphene additive also has the potential to reduce the amount of concrete required in numerous concrete applications thereby contributing to greenhouse gas emission reductions by the concrete industry.
In addition, the graphene additive has the potential to make concrete more durable resulting in infrastructure that will resist cracking related to freeze-thaw cycles and salt corrosion which are key attributes relevant to Canadian usage. The Company is working towards commercialization of this graphene application with a business plan to potentially provide significant volumes of graphene to the concrete industry at a competitive cost.