Sri Lanka to set up a carbon nano-tube factory
View(s):Sri Lanka is to change the age-old practice of exporting raw graphite with the innovation of a value added graphite product using nano technology, a senior government minister disclosed.
Senior Minister for Scientific Affairs Prof. Tissa Vitharana told Business Times that the Sri Lanka Institute of Nano Technology (SLINTEC) has carried out extensive research relating to carbon nano-tubes composed of carbon atoms built at nano-scales.He said that these nano-tubes have the strength approximately 100 times that of steel while the weight is one sixth of the weight of steel.
It is used for computer components, electronics and space technology, he said, adding that such high-tech products made of Sri Lanka’s graphite is worth around Rs. 150,000 per gram. He revealed that a Sri Lankan company is to set up a carbon nano-tube factory with foreign assistance to meet the high demand of such material made of Sri Lanka’s graphite and highly priced.
“Currently, Sri Lanka exports raw graphite at a price of around Rs. 200 per kilogram and we should make value added graphite,” he said, noting that the time has come to develop high tech material instead of exporting it in raw form.
He expressed the belief that all large and small graphite mines could be operated like in the colonial days following the commencement of production at the proposed factory.