Lineat - ReCaFiDi Recyled Carbon Fibre Dispersion

该创新者分析项目将斯旺西ASTUTE卓越中心在材料表面表征方面的专业知识应用于Lineat的新型碳纤维回收工艺。碳纤维以其高强度和轻质特性而闻名，但具有沉重的成本和环境负担。它比钢贵40倍，每公斤二氧化碳排放量高出20倍，但只有不到10%被回收利用，使其成为世界上最昂贵的一次性材料之一。碳纤维可以从由碳纤维复合材料制成的物品中回收，但只有不到10%被重新使用，全球每年约有5万吨被填埋。英国严重依赖碳纤维进口。提高和扩大碳纤维回收能力是一项明确而紧迫的需求。目前，混炼胶的使用仅限于性能较差的填料或毡，因此，对于基本的混炼应用，市场的容量和价值被限制在1万吨或2亿美元以下。Lineat已经展示了如何用其对齐的再生纤维替代高达50%的原生纤维，提供了一种高价值的解决方案。Lineat的工艺将短切纤维回收到一种新的连续带中，这种连续带由对齐的不连续纤维组成，当对齐时可以替代原生材料。对齐是通过首先将纤维分散到水中，然后通过专利的水力对齐装置将其喷洒。然而，该方法的生产率和经济性目前受到在较高浓度下分散纤维的困难的限制。碳纤维的表面在废物来源之间可能有很大差异，需要不同的分散策略。基于理论限制，生产速度提高10倍应该是可能的，这有助于节省更多的碳纤维，否则将被填埋。为了实现这一目标，ASTUTE将使用先进的技术来表征纤维表面，从而优化选择添加剂，以促进纤维分散。与此同时，Lineat将在其工艺中试用这些技术，以最大限度地提高分散浓度和纤维排列质量，从而为回收碳纤维提供高价值的解决方案。

This Analysis for Innovators project applies Swansea ASTUTE Centre of Excellence expertise on on material surface characterisation to Lineat's novel carbon fibre recycling process. Carbon fibre is well known for its high strength and lightweight properties but has a heavy cost and environmental burden. It is 40x more expensive than steel with 20x higher CO2 emissions per kg, yet less than 10% is recycled making it one of world's most expensive single-use materials. Carbon fibre may be recovered from articles made from carbon fibre composites, but less than 10% is re-used with about 50,000 tonnes landfilled globally p.a. And, the UK relies heavily on carbon fibre import. Improved and expanded capabilities for recycling carbon fibre is a clear and urgent need. Recycled use is currently limited to filler or felt, with poor performance, and as a consequence the market is volume and value limited to less than 10,000 tonne or 200mn USD for basic compounding applications. Lineat has shown how up to 50% of virgin fibre can be replaced with its aligned recycled fibre, offering a high value solution.Lineat's processes recovered short chopped fibre into a new continuous tape consisting of aligned discontinuous fibres which when aligned can substitute virgin material. Alignment is done by first dispersing fibres into water and then spraying them through a patented hydro-alignment set-up. However, the productivity and economics of the process are at present limited by difficulties in dispersing fibre at higher concentrations. The surface of the carbon fibres can vary greatly between waste sources and require different dispersion strategies. Based on theoretical limits, a 10x increase in production speed should be possible helping to save more carbon fibre otherwise destined for landfill.To achieve this objective ASTUTE will use advanced techniques for characterisation of the fibre surface, leading to optimal selection of additives to promote fibre dispersion. In parallel, Lineat will trial these in its process to maximise dispersion concentration and fibre alignment quality, leading to a high value solution for recycled carbon fibre.