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Directa Plus PLC

Directa Plus PLC - Trial of Graphene Enhanced Asphalt at an Airport

RNS Number : 0631Z
Directa Plus PLC
08 January 2020
 

8 January 2020

 

Directa Plus plc

("Directa Plus" or the "Company")

 

First Trial of Graphene Enhanced Asphalt at an International Airport

 

Directa Plus (AIM: DCTA), a producer and supplier of graphene-based products for use in consumer and industrial markets, and its partner Iterchimica, an Italian based world leader in products that enhance asphalt performance, are pleased to announce the world's first trial of graphene enhanced asphalt at an international airport.

 

The six month trial will take place at Rome's Fiumicino airport on taxiway Alpha Alpha, a high traffic taxiway used for class E and F intercontinental aircraft such as Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s.  Rome Fiumicino Airport (also known as Rome Leonardo da Vinci Airport) is Italy's busiest airport with some 43 million passengers handled in 2018, of which 31.5 million originated from abroad. Total aircraft movements for 2018 amounted to 307,736.

 

The project will use the asphalt additive Gipave, developed by Directa Plus and Iterchimica, containing the Company's G+ graphene and will be in collaboration with G.ECO S.r.l., part of Italy's largest multi-utility company Gruppo A2A, and the University of Milan-Bicocca.

 

Gipave is the result of a three-year research programme with a patent filed in 2017.  In an initial trial in Italy, Gipave was confirmed as providing significant benefits compared to traditional asphalt in all areas tested: service life, resistance to the passage of vehicles, resistance to deformation and permanent plastic deformation.  In addition, once laid, asphalt with Gipave can be 100 per cent recycled, which can reduce the extraction of new materials from quarries and first-use bitumen.  Gipave is currently being tested in the UK in Oxfordshire with the co-operation of Oxfordshire County Council and the prime contractor, Skanska AB

 

Commenting, Giulio Cesareo, Founder and CEO of Directa Plus, said: "The Gipave trial at Fiumicino airport potentially opens a large new market for us.  Taxiways are high traffic, high stress areas and we hope to demonstrate that the use of a graphene-based additive will improve performance, life and sustainability." 

 

"Gipave is another example of our strategy to offer value-added solutions to existing markets, rather than waiting for future graphene markets to develop over what could well be the long term."

 

Federica Giannattasio, Iterchimica CEO, added: "Gipave is our latest patented innovation, created through collaboration with G.Eco (part of Gruppo A2A), Milano Bicocca University and Directa Plus. This is world leading Italian technology to create high-tech (graphene), green (recycled plastics, milled and reusable pavements) and highly resistant road surfaces. We believe that Gipave will also be a successful technological innovation for both maintenance and new works in airports, providing significant environmental and financial benefits."

 

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

 

Directa Plus plc

+39 02 36714458

Giulio Cesareo, CEO

 

Marco Ferrari, CFO

 

 

 

Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)

+44 20 7894 7000

Rick Thompson, Philip Davies, Will Goode (Corporate Finance)

 

Caspar Shand Kydd (Sales)

 

 

 

N+1 Singer (Joint Broker)

+44 20 7496 3069

Mark Taylor, Lauren Kettle, Mia Gardner




Tavistock (Financial PR and IR)

+44 20 7920 3150

Simon Hudson, Edward Lee, Barnaby Hayward

 

 

This announcement has been released by Giulio Cesareo, Chief Executive, on behalf of the Company.

 

About Directa Plus

Our focus is principally on the two sectors in which we have strong commercial advantage through developed and launched products and a technological lead: environmental (based on our Grafysorber® product) and textiles (based on our G+ products).  In addition, we will continue to pursue opportunities in elastomers and composites (including tyres and asphalt), also using our G+ products.  All our products are hypoallergenic, non-toxic and sustainably produced.

 

About Iterchimica

Iterchimica, an Italian based world leader in products that enhance both asphalt pavements performance and the laying of road surfaces in order to increase safety, environmental sustainability, and efficiency.

http://www.iterchimica.it/en/

 

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