Cordenka and Stora Enso to jointly develop precursors for biobased carbon fiber


Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.

Cordenka (largest producer of industrial rayon in the world) and Stora Enso have signed an agreement to jointly develop precursors for biobased carbon fiber. The co-development is driven by the need for high performance carbon fiber in transportation, construction and power generation.

Figure 1. Cordenka and Stora Enso to jointly develop precursors for biobased carbon fiber (taken from the press release)

Stora Enso has been developing the technology for manufacturing carbon fiber from wood-based raw materials (dissolving pulp and lignin) at laboratory scale. The agreement aims at upscaling the precursor development process to pilot-scale operation. The precursor development is carried out with specialised manufacturing spinning equipment at Cordenka’s Obernburg production site in Germany. The venture is supported by BMC, owner of Cordenka, as part of their strategy to extend the reach of Cordenka into new growth markets and Asia.

Carbon fiber demand is increasing steadily at an annual growth rate of 10%. The target of the partnership will be on developing carbon fiber initially for industrial applications requiring low weight and high mechanical performance, such as pultruded laminates used in manufacturing wind energy rotor blades. Today, 20% of the global carbon fiber supply is used by the wind energy industry.

Currently, carbon fiber is made from PAN (polyacrylonitrile) which is an oil-based raw material. The raw materials for biobased carbon fiber are cellulose and lignin. In the manufacturing process, cellulose is converted to viscose and mixed with lignin to form the spinning dope. The dope is spun into precursor fiber that is thermally converted to carbon fiber.

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