Haydale wins awards for its materials technology in medical and surface treatment applications
Advanced materials group, Haydale (AIM: HAYD) is celebrating a double award win, with the Group picking up an award at the prestigious 2022 British Engineering Excellence Awards (‘BEEAs’) and named as a winner of the Kidney Research UK MedTech Competition respectively.
Awarded in ‘Materials Application of the Year’ category for the surface treatment, CeramycGuard™
The global company with its head office in Ammanford, Wales was the overall winner in the ‘Materials Application of the Year’ category for the surface treatment, CeramycGuard™. The BEEA judges said it was ‘a great development of materials, which is simple to use and meets multiple applications.’
CeramycGuard™ is a concrete surface coating developed and manufactured by Zirconia and exclusively distributed by Haydale in the UK. The surface treatment uses Haydale’s proprietary silicon carbide microfibre, along with nano-Alumina and Zirconia Silicates to renew and preserve concrete surfaces.
Unlike commonly used epoxies and paints that only ‘stick’ to the surface, CeramycGuard™ chemically bonds to the concrete effectively shielding the surface from the environment and eliminating degradation and peeling. Applications for the surface treatment are far reaching with the potential to repair rather than replace existing concrete assets to significantly extend service life and potentially offer savings in CO2 emissions.
The new technology has recently been trialled to repair and protect concrete at one of Anglian Water’s sewage treatment works. The spill chamber on the anaerobic digester was in poor condition with the exposed concrete in need of repair. CeramycGuard™ has been used to coat the surface and provide a shield against the harsh environment and prevents penetrating chemical adhesion and eliminates surface voids.
The application of the coating is currently undergoing a monitoring process, but as an asset preservation technology it is anticipated to extend the service life of the spill chamber. Currently Anglian Water are identifying an additional trial site for CeramycGuard™ where the existing coating has degraded significantly.
Named winner of the ‘Kidney Research UK MedTech Competition’
After pitching to the Kidney Research UK MedTech Competition Dragons’ Den, Haydale, as the industrial partner, and the Wales Kidney Research Unit at Cardiff University were chosen as one of seven winners.
The cash prize will allow the collaborative team to work towards developing a urinary electrochemical microRNA sensor for rapid detection of problems with newly transplanted kidneys, potentially replacing slower and more costly PCR-based methods. The sensor will use Haydale’s biomedical functionalised graphene ink to accelerate detection without the need for invasive biopsy.
Commenting on the Kidney MedTech Competition win, Haydale UK Site Director John-Mark Seymour said: “Working on this project with Dr Tim Bowen and the team at Cardiff University, we are moving forward quickly to provide innovative technological solutions to potentially improve people’s life experience. Having won this award, we are looking forward to this development and to continue to innovate in the MedTech area.”
Dr Bowen, Reader in Matrix and Molecular Biology at Wales Kidney Research Unit, added: “We are very excited to be working with Haydale. Their functionalised graphene technology provides significant advantages for the fabrication and potential utility of our microRNA sensors.”
Marc Stowell, Executive Director of Development at Kidney Research UK said: “We are delighted that the Wales Kidney Research Unit at Cardiff University and Haydale are among the recipients of our first Med Tech competition, which was launched to help accelerate the development of new technologies to improve patients’ lives faster. Transplants are life-changing, when they fail the consequences can be devastating, so we are excited to see how the urinary electrochemical microRNA sensor technology could help detect and treat problems early.”
Commenting on Haydale’s award success, Haydale CEO Keith Broadbent said: “Winning these two awards shows good progress in our technology development. Being recognised in the areas of surface modification and medical treatments demonstrates the diverse range of applications nanomaterials can be used in using our technology.”