While current solutions such as reverse osmosis exist, and are widely used in the desalination of seawater, the water they produce is expensive. While this is less of an issue for countries with inexpensive energy costs, it puts the technology beyond the reach of most of the world’s population. Any new solution for water issues needs to be able to demonstrate precise control over pore sizes, be highly resistant to fouling and significantly reduce energy use.  Nanotechnology has long been recognized as this solution with a focus of creating a structure with the correct size nanoscale pores to develop a better filter, in addition to possessing extraordinarily high surface areas, and the ability to tune the surface chemistry to remove trace contaminants through adsorption or catalysis. Fortunately, developments in the ‘wonder material’ graphene are expected to change the economics of water. 

GLC is engaged in the environmental market segment, specifically water treatment and purification. GLC has already received significant interest from industry to develop application formulations relating to water purification. Customers in this segment include water and wastewater treatment facilities, water purification companies, municipalities, and companies whose business requires the treatment of effluents before discharging into the municipal sewage system.

GLC is also engaged with mining customers with a focus on development of sustainable treatment and filtration solutions. We understand that the solutions employed must be able to satisfy regulatory agency requirements and improve the bottom-line. GLC understands that our solutions must be compatible with our customers’ operating environment that includes widely fluctuating market conditions, commodity markets, and thin operating margins.

Given the demand for environmental solutions, Graphene Leaders Canada (GLC) Inc. has introduced GLC+™ Selenium Adsorbent Technology to the market, a novel granular adsorbent harnessing the high surface area and excellent tailorability of graphene oxide (GO) in a nanocomposite material designed to remove selenium from water. Our material has been studied in batch and continuous flow conditions and has been observed to consistently remove selenite and selenate from lab water samples with removal efficiencies of up to 100% over a wide range of pH values (from pH2- pH8). Recent preliminary trials with real mining effluent at operational pH have indicated up to 60% removal of selenium with low adsorbent loading. Trials are currently underway to achieve 100% removal using elevated amounts of selenium adsorbent.

Selenium has emerged as a water treatment contaminant of concern in industries such as mining, oil refining, and power generation.   The global water & wastewater treatment market is expected to reach USD 674.72 billion by 2025, driven by the rising demand for freshwater for drinking, industrialization and agriculture. Treated water is suitable for various end-uses such as river flow maintenance, drinking, the supply of industrial water and irrigation.  The annual water treatment market for hard-rock mining is expected to grow 85 percent over the next five years, from roughly $9 billion in 2016 to $17 billion by 2021, according to Bluefield Research.