Abu dhabi: INTRATOMICS Advanced Material Technologies, a commercial offshoot of the Research and Innovation Centre for Graphene and 2D Materials (RIC2D), within Khalifa University Enterprises Company (KUEC), has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MAGMA (RWM), a UAE-based firm focusing on waste valorisation and sustainable material recovery.
According to Emirates News Agency, the MoU was signed by INTRATOMICS' Director of Commercialisation and Special Projects, and Chief Executive Officer, Fahed Mohamed Rashed Alabsi, alongside Mark Anthony Woods, Chief Executive Officer of MAGMA. The partnership is set to develop scalable pathways for recovering, processing, and upcycling industrial byproducts into advanced materials. This move aims to enhance sustainability and performance across various industries while promoting a circular economy by converting industrial waste into graphene and graphene-related materials (GRMs). This transformation is expected to create new value chains for the UAE's manufacturing, construction, petrochemical, infrastructure, and environmental sectors.
Fahad Mohamed Rashed Alabsi commented on the collaboration, emphasizing the shift in perception of waste from a burden to a valuable resource. He stated that the partnership with MAGMA is pioneering a new frontier where waste materials become feedstock for the production of graphene and GRMs, facilitating cleaner and more efficient industries and advancing the UAE's leadership in sustainable innovation.
Mark Anthony Woods highlighted the shared vision with INTRATOMICS for transforming industrial waste into advanced materials that benefit multiple industries. He noted that by combining MAGMA's waste management expertise with INTRATOMICS' scientific and technological capabilities, a circular model can be demonstrated where sustainability and profitability coexist.
Amal Al Jabri, Chief Executive Officer of KUEC, underscored the partnership's role in bridging research excellence with national industrial priorities. By supporting collaborations like that of INTRATOMICS and MAGMA, Khalifa University and KUEC are enabling science to act as a catalyst for circular economy transformation and global leadership in sustainable materials.
The collaboration will focus on converting diverse waste streams, such as coke, fly ash, biosolids, metallic residues, and other industrial byproducts, into graphene and GRM-based materials. These materials will be suitable for applications in coatings, composites, filtration systems, lubricants, and structural materials. By integrating environmental engineering with advanced material science, the partnership aims to create locally produced, high-value materials that bolster the construction, energy storage, mobility, and manufacturing sectors, contributing to the UAE's industrial self-reliance.
This initiative will also demonstrate how scientific innovation can drive circularity by transforming waste liabilities into resource assets, reducing carbon intensity, and fostering sustainable industrial growth in line with the UAE's Net Zero 2050 ambitions.