Gerdau enters graphene market
Gerdau began its history as a nail factory in Porto Alegre, called Paris, 120 years ago. Many years later, it started steel production and never stopped. Currently present in ten countries, it is the country's largest steel company controlled by Brazilians, one of the main long steel producers in the Americas and an international leader in specialty steel. Three years ago, the group decided to move beyond steel and enter other sectors, such as civil construction service providers, logistics and online sales of construction materials.
Gerdau's new step aims at being a global supplier of graphene-based products. This material comes from graphite - widely used to make pencils. Brazil is rich in graphite reserves.
A new strategy was designed by the group after divesting assets in several countries. The decision was made due to the low profitability of several businesses in the steel portfolio, which were sold between 2014 and 2018. As a result, the group left Europe and India and focused on the Americas.
After the departure of the Gerdau family from the executive management - it remains on the board of directors - a long-term plan was devised in 2019. The goal is to obtain, until 2030, a substantial portion of the revenue with fields adjacent to steel, or new ones. This is the case of the graphene operation, which began to be planned four years ago with experiments carried out in the specialty steel division.
To set foot in this business, the group has just created Gerdau Graphene, a company with a global vocation. Headquartered in São Paulo, it will have a subsidiary in the United States, initially in Tampa, Florida. The initial focus is the Americas, whose market for graphene products is estimated at $2.7 billion a year, Gerdau Graphene's Chief Executive Alexandre de Toledo Corrêa told Valor.
Graphene was accidentally discovered in 2004 by Russian physicists André Geim and Konstantin Novoselov. The discovery earned the two researchers, in 2010, the Nobel Prize in Physics.
From a range of 55 potential applications of graphene, Gerdau Graphene has selected seven for product development. Five are industry-oriented applications - additives for concrete, thermoplastic resins, rubber artifacts, anti-corrosion paints and industrial and automotive lubricants. Two others will be dedicated to special projects: components for automotive vehicle batteries and thermal sensors.
Gerdau has moved forward with studies and research on graphene through a...
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