CARBOPREC · Renewable source nanostructured precursors for carbon fibers

More and more industrial sectors (e.g. automotive, wind energy, boatbuilding) are demanding lightweight and high-performance composite materials, which represent a strong driver to develop the carbon fibre (CF) industry. Today, almost 80% of CF available on the market are using PolyAcryloNitrile (PAN) as the starting raw material because of its superior properties compared to pitch based carbon fibres. However, CF produced from PAN are expensive which limit their application to premium industrial sectors looking for high-performance structural materials while accepting high material costs (e.g. aeronautics, military devices, and sport goods).The strategic objective of CARBOPREC is to develop low cost precursors from renewable materials widely available in Europe (lignin and cellulose) reinforced by carbon nanotube (CNT) to produce high performance CF for automotive and wind energy applications.To achieve this objective, two white fibre processes will be studied to produce continuous fibers:- wet spinning approach for the cellulose dissolved in phosphoric acid (H3PO4),- melt spinning by extrusion for the lignin.Moreover, the carbonization process as well as the different functionalisation steps will be deeply investigated to enhance significantly both, the carbonisation yield, and the added value brought by the developed carbon fibers in the final applications targeted.The CARBOPREC consortium led by ARKEMA gathers 14 partners coming from 6 different European countries and Russia. It covers the whole value chain needed to develop innovative carbon fibers from renewable materials.