A research consortium led by the Technical University of Munich has succeeded in creating carbon fibers from renewable microalgae, sidestepping the need for petroleum in making this next-gen material, a press release explained.
The GreenCarbon project, as the work is called, has made major headway toward sustainable industrial-scale carbon fiber production, which can serve a variety of applications, including aircraft and vehicles, wind turbines, and even high-performance sporting equipment.
In addition to TUM, the consortium includes the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, the company SGL Carbon, and the aerospace group Airbus.
"Our GreenCarbon value chain opens up new pathways for replacing fossil feedstocks across the chemical industry," said project coordinator Thomas Brück of TUM, according to an Interesting Engineering report on the breakthrough.
Carbon fibers are extremely lightweight, stable, and resilient. They're made from acrylonitrile, a raw material that has traditionally been sourced from petroleum, a dirty fuel that harms the environment.
Researchers at the school explored extracting oils from photosynthetically active microalgae as a more sustainable alternative.
"Through photosynthesis, microalgae bind the greenhouse gas CO2, among other things in the form of algae oils," explained Brück. From there, they extracted glycerine using a chemical process.
A process for catalytically converting biogenic glycerol into acrylonitrile that can be used for the production of carbon fibers was then developed. The next phase is to scale up the process for industrial applications.
According to Arne Roth, department head of Fraunhofer IGB, these new sustainable carbon fiber materials "have the same high-performance properties as conventionally manufactured carbon fibers," per the press release.
Carbon fiber and carbon fiber reinforced polymers are key elements in the global low-carbon energy transition, helping support advancements in aerospace, automotive, battery storage, and wind power industries.
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Absolutely 📈 However, the use of petroleum-based materials is environmentally problematic, making the development of renewably derived raw materials a potentially monumental advancement.
The Japan Carbon Fiber Manufacturers Association conducted a life-cycle assessment to determine how the material's use can contribute to reducing its carbon footprint.
It found that when 17% of a car is made of CFRP, 5 tons of carbon dioxide per car will be eliminated over 10 years. When 50% of an aircraft's fuselage is made from the material, 27,000 tons of CO2 per aircraft are eliminated over the same period.
European aerospace group Airbus, which is an associate partner in the GreenCarbon project, performed its own life-cycle assessment of the various technology options and was inspired by the results, according to TUM's statement.
Airbus has already made test flights with a helicopter made from the new sustainable carbon fibers, opening up a path toward expanding their use in aviation applications.
The GreenCarbon project now aims to optimize the technology and expand its use into industrial applications. It even hinted that the process could be used to replace dirty fuels in the creation of other polymers.
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