European Patent Grant

RNS Number : 1686C

Haydale Graphene Industries PLC

14 October 2015

 

14 October 2015

Haydale Graphene Industries plc

("Haydale" or the "Company")

Grant Confirmed for Haydale Patent in Europe

Haydale (AIM: HAYD), the group focused on the commercialisation of graphene and other nano particle products using its proprietary plasma process, is pleased to announce confirmation from the European Patent Office ("EPO") of the decision to grant a European Patent to Haydale ("European Patent").

This European Patent is the key process patent underlying the Company's proprietary functionalisation treatment and is one of a number arising from the families of patent applications surrounding the Haydale plasma process. The decision to grant is the final and irreversible decision by the EPO to grant the European Patent, which will be formally granted on 4 November 2015 as EP2649136B. Although there is no guarantee, Haydale anticipates that, following this decision to grant, other applications made in various other key jurisdictions should also proceed to grant.  Haydale already has a corresponding granted patent in China and has visibility on the patent application in Australia, which is allowed and expected to proceed to grant within the next 3-4 months.  Divisional patent applications are being pursued in these jurisdictions.

Crucially, the European Patent is not limited to graphene or carbon materials but also covers all nano particles.  Whilst Haydale's immediate focus remains on commercialising graphene and other nano carbons, this important award means that the Haydale process can now be extended in Europe to a wide range of alternative materials thereby opening even further future opportunities and applications using its HDPlas® functionalisation process. Furthermore, the receipt of the European Patent will allow Haydale to grant licenses of its plasma process to graphene producers or applications houses throughout Europe.

Haydale has previously stated its growth strategy includes the creation of centres of excellence both in the UK and overseas and the potential licencing of reactors to third parties in order to provide its unique functionalisation process in locations that are relevant to various target industries. This patent grant ensures that Haydale can implement the development strategy knowing that the Company's key intellectual property is protected.

Commenting, Ray Gibbs, Haydale Chief Executive said:

"I am absolutely delighted that we are being granted this European Patent which follows on from the patent award in China that we announced in June. We believe that this provides us with significant credibility amongst our existing and potential customers across our market place. In particular the award of granted patents was a key target that we set out to achieve when we were admitted to trading on AIM in April 2014. Haydale continues to deliver on its stated goals.

We have independent research here in the UK and in the USA that states our HDPlas® process works and we now have customers ordering repeat samples. We have a number of partnerships in place to develop the next generation of advanced materials benefitting from the use of our functionalised graphene and now we have that functionalisation process protected by patent. All of this gives us great belief and confidence that Haydale is in a unique position to benefit from the adoption of graphene enhanced materials by a range of industries." 

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For further information, please contact:

Haydale Graphene Industries plc	[phone]
John Knowles, Chairman Ray Gibbs, Chief Executive Officer
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad)	[phone]
Tony Rawlinson Emma Earl
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (Broker)	[phone]
David Foreman, Will Goode (Corporate Finance) David Banks, Tessa Sillars (Corporate Broking)
Hermes Financial PR
Trevor Phillips Chris Steele	[phone] [phone]

About Haydale (www.haydale.com)

Haydale has developed a patent pending proprietary scalable plasma process to functionalise graphene and other nanomaterials. This enabling technology can provide Haydale with a rapid and highly cost efficient method of supplying tailored solutions to enhance applications for both raw material suppliers and product manufacturers.

Functionalisation is carried out through a low pressure plasma process that treats both organic mined fine powder and other synthetically produced nanomaterial powders producing high quality few layered graphenes and graphene nano platelets. The process can functionalise with a range of chemical groups, where the amount of chemicals can be tailored to the customer needs. Good dispersion improves the properties and performance of the host material and ensures it delivers as specified.

The Haydale plasma process does not use wet chemistry, neither does it damage the material being processed, rather it can clean up impurities inherent in the raw material. The technology is a low energy user and most importantly environmentally friendly.  The Haydale method is an enabling technology where working with a raw material producer can add value to the base product and tailor the outputs to meet the target applications of the end user.

Haydale, based in South Wales, housed in a purpose built facility for processing and handling nanomaterials with a laboratory facility,  is facilitating the application of graphenes and other nanomaterials in fields such as inks, sensors, energy storage, photovoltaics, composites, paints and coatings.

 

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