First Major Commercial Contract for Gipave

RNS Number : 6386D

Directa Plus PLC

21 October 2022

 

21 October 2022

Directa Plus plc

("Directa Plus" or the "Company")

First Major Commercial Contract for Gipave

Italian national motorway to be paved with asphalt enhanced by graphene supermodifier

Directa Plus (AIM: DCTA), a leading producer and supplier of graphene nanoplatelets based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, announces that an innovative, sustainable, resilient and safe asphalt for the A4 Torino-Milano motorway section, managed by the ASTM Group will be made with G+® graphene and specially selected recycled hard plastics (e.g., toys, fruit crates, litter bins). The asphalt will re-use 70% of milled material from existing pavement, thus reducing the use of new natural aggregates to only 30%. The works will involve both directions for a total of 250 km.

The presence of G+® in Gipave® will guarantee greater resistance and mean a longer life span for the road.  In addition, the project will deliver significant environmental benefits: energy consumption will be reduced by 90 million kilowatt hours (equivalent to the annual consumption of 30.000 families) and CO₂ emissions will be reduced by 18.4 million kilograms (equivalent to the absorption capacity of 115.000 trees).

ASTM is an industrial group operating in the sectors of motorway management, large infrastructure engineering and construction projects and transport and mobility technology.  The group is the second largest toll road operator in the world with approximately 6,200 km of road managed through concessions in Italy, Brazil and the UK.

Gipave® contains the Company's G+® graphene and was developed by Iterchimica with the support of Directa Plus and resulted from a three-year research programme with a patent filed in 2017.  The product uses waste plastics that would not normally be recycled and the asphalt containing Gipave® can itself be entirely recycled - promoting the 'circular economy,' which reduces waste and the need for new materials.

This commercial contract follows the one kilometre paving of the new Ponte San Giorgio bridge in Genova and a series of demonstration projects to prove the benefits of Gipave®.  These have included projects in Italy - airports, and roads - and the UK - re-surfacing of a section of the main road in Curbridge, Oxfordshire, a road section in Dartford, resurfacing trial in Staffordshire and a trial section of a road in Essex.  The successful first pilot scheme in Curbridge, Oxfordshire in 2019 showed that Gipave® increases the lifespan of the surface by up to 70 per cent compared to conventional resurfacing methods. The risk of rutting under loads from heavy goods vehicles is also reduced by increased stiffness in the product.

Commenting, Giulio Cesareo, Founder and CEO of Directa Plus, said: " Directa Plus has supported partner Iterchimica both in Italy and in the UK from the very beginning of the Gipave® graphene asphalt project.

"We are particularly proud to have assisted our partner in the evolution of this application from the trial sections demonstration projects to significant full industrial applications of G+® enhanced asphalt supermodifiers on high mileage motorways, ensuring positive impacts for the environment and local communities. It is a significant validation of our product with no significant impact on 2022 sales but a supply of several tons of material in 2023/2024."

Federica Giannattasio, CEO Iterchimica, added: "After six years of research and development and numerous trial sections in Italy and abroad that have demonstrated both the technical and environmental performance of this technology, we are extremely proud to contribute together with the ASTM Group to the resurfacing of the A4 Torino-Milano motorway, which will thus become the first hi-tech, safe and sustainable motorway in Europe. The work is being carried out thanks to GiPave's patented technology and our know-how, which we have put at ASTM's disposal to enable the main road link in north-west Italy to achieve this prestigious result. This project, which represents a first step, makes us quite proud and places Italy at the forefront and in line with the ecological transition objectives set out in the UN's 2030 Agenda. The environmental savings are unprecedented, reaching emission reductions of up to 38,5% compared to traditional maintenance technologies. We thank our graphene partner Directa Plus that worked shoulder to shoulder with us since the beginning of this journey "

For further information please visit http://www.directa-plus.com/ or contact:

Directa Plus plc	[phone]
Giulio Cesareo, CEO / Giorgio Bonfanti, CFO
Cenkos Securities plc (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	[phone]
Neil McDonald / Adam Rae
Singer Capital Markets (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Rick Thompson / Phil Davies
Tavistock (Financial PR and IR)	[phone]
Simon Hudson / Heather Armstrong

About Directa Plus

Directa Plus (www.directa-plus.com) is one of the largest producers and suppliers of graphene-based products for use in consumer and industrial markets. The Company's graphene manufacturing capability uses proprietary patented technology based on a plasma super expansion process. Starting from natural graphite, each step of Directa Plus' production process - expansion, exfoliation and drying - creates graphene-based materials and hybrid graphene materials ready for a variety of uses and available in various forms such as powder, liquid and paste.

This proprietary production process uses a physical process, rather than a chemical process, to process graphite into pristine graphene nanoplatelets, which enables Directa Plus to offer a sustainable, non-toxic product, without unwanted by-products. Directa Plus' products are made of hybrid graphene materials and graphene nano-platelets. The products (marketed as G+®) have multiple applications due to its properties. These G+® products can be categorised into various families, with different products being suitable for specific practical applications.

Directa Plus was established in 2005 and is based in Lomazzo (Como, Italy) and has been listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange since May 2016. The Company holds the Green Economy Mark from London Stock Exchange which recognises companies that contribute to the global green economy.

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