Interview with Paul Beasant of Nova Graphene
At The Traction Initiative, we are focused on addressing actionable solutions towards tire pollution as well as shedding light on the environmental detriments of tire pollution. As part of that mission, Traction has been focused on hosting interviews to comprehend industry trends, new technologies, and corporate sustainability practices. Recently, we hosted a corporate interview with Nova Graphene, a Nova Scotia-based defence company utilizing pioneering graphene technology for ballistics that was recently part of Canada’s Canadian Plastics Innovation Challenge. Follow along as we peer through the lens of an industry leader into novel insights on tire pollution, graphene technology, and corporate structure.
Could you give us a window into day-to-day operations of managing a company focused on sustainability as well as this new technology with Graphene?
We're kind of split. Our business model is similar to 3M’s in that we're very active on the front end of the R&D side and very active in the back end of the marketing and sales side. But in the middle with manufacturing, we don't get too involved in that.
Are there any insights or advice you could give me on what it's like running your own company as CEO and what it's like overseeing all these operations?
I've got a pretty short attention span, always have. And so the variety in what we do on a daily basis is a lot of fun. I think it's kind of keeping you on your toes so that you're not kind of pigeonholed into one thing…..And, you know, one day you're business development the next day, you know, you're helping the researcher cut up ballistic cloth to make a new armour plate.
Could you tell me about graphene technology?
Sure! Graphene at its simplest is just a unique form of carbon just like diamond. At its purest, it is a single layer of a carbon atom. Which is to say that you could have a sheet of graphene that's only one atom thick. So it's currently the thinnest substance known to man. The way that it interacts with other materials when mixed, makes other things better with graphene. It could be lighter or stronger and more lubricious or thermally/electrically conductive or whatever the case may be. But, graphene by weight is something ridiculous, like 200 times stronger than steel, harder than diamond.
So about that tire technology, how does the graphene come into play when you're developing sustainable tires?
We're putting a very small amount [of graphene] and by that I mean, it's rare that we go above one percent of graphene by weight into whatever we're adding it to. What we wanted to do was to minimize microplastics in the environment. And we knew that because of [graphene’s] durability and strength, a little bit of the graphene and the rubber would provide additional abrasive wear and also strengthen the bonds between the rubber so they're less likely to fly off. At the end of the day, you know, we wanted to have the amount of microplastics per kilometer driven decrease and more importantly, to do so without decreasing performance.
Is tire pollution something that's well known by people or brought up a lot in discussion?
Well, I think it's well known, but I think it's under-appreciated, which is to say that, you know, depending on who you're asking, what reports you're reading, many would suggest that the negative effects from microplastics from car pollution are worse than the effects of car exhaust.
