Dana Gas Starts Graphene Output at Sharjah Site, Sets 10-Tonne Target

Dana Gas has begun producing graphene at Sharjah Graphene Park, commissioning the site's first LOOP 20 unit and moving the project out of pilot work into commercial-scale manufacturing.

The unit, developed by UK materials company Levidian, is the baseline model. It turns out more than one tonne of high-grade graphene a year. Its commissioning marks the start of industrial-scale graphene manufacturing at the park.

Capacity targets and the next units

LOOP 60 and LOOP 100 systems are under construction in the UK. Once those come online, the two companies are targeting combined capacity above 10 tonnes a year by the end of 2026. Dana Gas wants Sharjah Graphene Park to become the largest graphene production facility in the GCC, and one of the first anywhere to make graphene at scale directly from methane.

What the first phase cost

Phase one came in under $1 million. Bringing LOOP 60 and LOOP 100 into service is expected to lift total capital investment to roughly $2.5 million. Spending could eventually reach as much as $50 million as output scales, although that larger figure is not committed. More capital depends on landing long-term graphene purchase agreements and on meeting required investment-return thresholds.

Testing, and the demand that has to follow

Several prospective large customers in the UAE are trialing Levidian's graphene. The two companies are negotiating longer-term offtake agreements with potential buyers across the UAE and the wider GCC. Production has started, but the expansion depends on industrial customers converting product testing into commercial demand.

How LOOP works

Levidian's patented process uses microwave plasma to split methane before combustion into hydrogen and solid carbon in the form of graphene. Levidian says it operates without water or catalysts, and it can take methane from natural gas, biogas, biomethane, landfill gas and other sources.

Graphene is a carbon material valued for strength, low weight and conductivity. Potential uses span batteries, tires, concrete, coatings and polymer products. Dana Gas and Levidian are starting with construction, polymers, coatings and energy.

For Dana Gas, the plant is a diversification play. It offers a route to higher-value materials made from methane, rather than relying solely on conventional gas sales.

An existing partnership

The relationship predates the Sharjah plant. Dana Gas and Levidian first partnered to explore deploying LOOP technology across Dana Gas operations, then signed a memorandum of understanding at Make it in the Emirates in May 2026 to establish Sharjah Graphene Park. That agreement covered a move toward industrial graphene production and commercial development, and eventual localization of LOOP systems in the UAE.

LOOP has been installed in the UAE before. Levidian and Baker Hughes placed a unit at ADNOC Gas' Habshan Gas Processing Plant in Abu Dhabi, described as the first deployment of the technology at an operational gas-processing site and designed to produce more than one tonne each of graphene and hydrogen a year. The Sharjah announcement concerns industrial production at the park, not the country's first methane-to-graphene deployment.

Dana Gas is also exploring solar power and other green-energy initiatives for the site. The next step is LOOP 60 and LOOP 100, both being built in the UK, with further spending tied to offtake agreements still under negotiation.