Global Carbon Fiber Composites Supply Chain Competitiveness Analysis

Das, Sujit; Warren, Josh; West, Devin; Schexnayder, Susan

doi:10.2172/1333049

Cited by 58 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Higher tensile strength is required for fibers for many applications, such as composites for automotive use. 2,8 Further research is required to explore the development of mesophase domains in the fibers, which is important in commercial pitch precursors for high-strength fibers. 8 Initial work on the relationship between mesophase formation and detailed chemical composition has been reported by Chen et al 83 Mesophase formation is related to the aromatic components and their size distribution, as well as bulk properties such as micro-carbon residue content, 84 but further studies are required using the advanced analytical tools described in this paper.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemistry and Properties of Carbon Fiber Feedstocks from Bitumen Asphaltenes

et al. 2023

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Carbon fibers are materials of paramount importance for composites applied in fields such as aerospace engineering, medicine, and renewable energy. Currently, most of the production of carbon fibers uses polyacrylonitrile, which incurs significant greenhouse gas emissions and high production costs. Therefore, carbon fiber manufacturing from asphaltene-enriched feedstocks is attractive as it could add value to extra-heavy fossil fuels and cut down precursor costs by ∼90%. Recent studies indicate that some asphaltene-rich samples feature rheological properties that make them optimal for melt-spinning and carbon fiber production; in other cases, the spun asphaltene feedstocks are unsuitable for such applications. In this work, bitumen asphaltenes were subjected to upgrading processes under three distinctive conditions to tweak their rheological properties in order to produce carbon fibers. The treated samples were comprehensively studied by separations based on solubility and extrography, and subsequently characterized by ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry, gas-phase fragmentation, and thermogravimetric analysis. The results indicate that upon thermal processing, asphaltene-rich feedstocks produced a mixture with diverse solubility, i.e., maltenes, asphaltenes, and toluene-insoluble material. The molecular composition of remnant asphaltenes suggests that thermal treatment dramatically decreased molecular polydispersity in terms of the content of heteroatoms, alkyl chains, and structural motifs, i.e., single-core vs multicore, also known as island vs archipelago. The processed asphaltenes revealed high abundances of alkyl-depleted island species. Such thermally treated samples produced no stable carbon fibers. Conversely, a feedstock treated with molten sodium in a proprietary process designed to remove sulfur, revealed increased content of alkyl-side chains and archipelago structural motifs. This sample produced stable carbon fibers. Furthermore, thermal analysis coupled with mass spectrometry (TGA-HRMS) was conducted to understand thermal desorption and pyrolysis profiles for the samples, as well as the presence of occluded compounds and carbon residue formation. The TGA-HRMS results are consistent with extrography and IRMPD FT-ICR MS studies and confirmed the ultrahigh abundance of multicore compounds in the desulfurized sample. Although the sample size is limited, and thus, correlations between molecular composition and rheology properties are not achieved, this is the first study that aims to understand the role of feed composition in the ability to generate carbon fibers from asphaltene-enriched feedstocks. Collectively, the results indicate that samples comprised of abundant highly aromatic asphaltenes, dominant in alkyl-depleted single-core structures, are unlikely optimal for carbon fiber applications. Conversely, a sample with a marked increase in H/C, a significant decrease in S content, and abundant multicore species could generate stable carbon fibers. More studies are underway to find correlations ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemistry and Properties of Carbon Fiber Feedstocks from Bitumen Asphaltenes

et al. 2023

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“…As well as the information studied during the research, only described the composite materials, where carbon fiber is used as reinforcement. The reason for this is that the carbon fiber is more expensive and a higher quality material with wider reusability options [1], [6], [9].…”

Section: Wastementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the technological simplicity of the process, this is the most used FRP waste recycling method, but grinding results in a significant reduction in the value of the materials. Foreca sts show that in 2018 the average price per kilo of carbon fiber used in the aeronautics industry must be 81.90 USD [1]. However, after crushing, the use of this valuable raw material is limited.…”

Section: Mechanical Recyclingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of Polymer Matrix Composite Waste Recycling Methods

Delvere

Iltiņa

Shanbayev

et al. 2019

Environmental and Climate Technologies

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Polymer-based matrix composite materials are in high demand in many different fields: aeronautics, pressure vessel manufacturing, wind turbine blade manufacturing, and others. Due to the great mechanical properties of fiber reinforced plastics, it is a desirable material for various applications, but at the same time its heterogenic structure makes the composite waste hard to recycle. This paper focuses on different fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) waste recycling methods and their comparison by carrying out literature review and using multi-criteria decision making analysis (MCDA). Four polymer matrix composite waste recycling methods are compared to calculate which one has the best sustainability performance based on the chosen criteria. Analytical Hierarchy Process and TOPSIS are applied for criteria weighing and method comparison. Sensitivity analysis is used to evaluate the obtained results. It is concluded that more studies concerning different FRP waste recycling method sustainability performance need to be done, to derive more data, that would make MCDA more reliable and also other FRP waste recycling methods could be compared. Another conclusion is that different methods have different strengths which makes it hard to compare them. While FRP waste recycling is getting more broadly used, there still is a lot of work to establish wide spread effective system of FRP waste recycling that is both economically viable and gives the best results concerning recycled material quality.

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“…The increasing demand of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) from automotive, aeronautic, wind energy and sport and leisure [1], combined with the growing interest of new sectors, e.g. pressure vessels [2] increase the production needs in the future, that will theoretically reach 116 000 tons by 2021 [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positioning supercritical solvolysis among innovative recycling and current waste management scenarios for carbon fiber reinforced plastics thanks to comparative life cycle assessment

Pillain

Loubet

Pestalozzi

et al. 2019

The Journal of Supercritical Fluids

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Global consumption of carbon fibers reinforced plastic (CFRP) is rising and the management of waste is an issue of high concern. In order to implement a sustainable carbon fiber recycling sector, there is a need to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of recycling processes. In this context, we compared current end-of-life scenarios (landfilling and incineration) with recycling technologies: pyrolysis, supercritical solvolysis and electrodynamic fragmentation using life cycle assessment. We conducted two analyses: a comparison between the CFRP end-of-life processes and a comparison including the substituted products from the recycled carbon fibers. When only considering the end-of-life processes, recycling processes have a higher environmental impact as they require higher energy demand than incineration or landfilling. When considering product substitution, recycling is environmentally beneficial since they replace the production of virgin products. Results are variable depending on the technology readiness level and the quality of fibers recovered from the recycling processes.

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Global Carbon Fiber Composites Supply Chain Competitiveness Analysis

Cited by 58 publications

References 2 publications

Chemistry and Properties of Carbon Fiber Feedstocks from Bitumen Asphaltenes

Chemistry and Properties of Carbon Fiber Feedstocks from Bitumen Asphaltenes

Evaluation of Polymer Matrix Composite Waste Recycling Methods

Positioning supercritical solvolysis among innovative recycling and current waste management scenarios for carbon fiber reinforced plastics thanks to comparative life cycle assessment

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