The State government has approved setting aside three acres at the Kinfra-run industrial park at Kanjikode in Palakkad for a graphene incubation centre, which will be developed into an ecosystem for companies interested in research and development and production in graphene related areas.
Industries and Law Minister P. Rajeeve said on Wednesday that Digital University Kerala and Kinfra will partner on the project. The initial allocation of three acres for the project can be scaled up to 20 acres. The vision for the long-term future is to use between 15 and 50 acres of space for graphene related research and industry, said the Minister.
The proposed graphene incubation facility is in addition to India’s first Graphene Innovation Centre, proposed to come up in Thrissur, with support from the Union government and with the technical support of the Digital University, Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) and Tata Steel Limited.
The ₹86 crore Graphene Innovation Centre is expected to draw investors to develop graphene products. The centre can utilise the State’s human resources capital effectively and help Kerala emerge as a knowledge-based economy.
Industrial production of graphene had started in Kerala early this year through Carborundum Universal Limited under the Murugappa Group. Carborundum Universal has designed a special project, Grapheno, as part of the production of the nanomaterial. It had set up a lab and a plant spread over 12,000 sq ft in Kakkanad as part of the initiative.
The plant can process graphene powder. The company has signed agreements with Manchester University, IIT Chennai and the Cochin University of Science and Technology for industrial research in the area.
Graphene is considered a wonder material with several properties like being the thinnest, most thermally and electrically conductive material. It is flexible, strong and transparent and has widespread applications.
