Melt-spinning of ionoSolv lignin for sustainable carbon fibre production

气候变化是当今社会面临的最紧迫的问题之一。车辆轻量化可以减少10%的交通排放。减轻重量的一个策略是用碳纤维增强复合材料代替钢，然而，它们的关键成分碳纤维目前过于昂贵。木质素是木材生物质的主要成分（约。25%）和一个有前途的替代碳纤维前体昂贵的石油衍生聚丙烯腈和沥青。木质素是可持续生物燃料生产的廉价副产品，具有生产碳纤维的有益化学性质。之前已经探索了将木质素转化为碳纤维的某些途径，但是所得的碳纤维具有低强度。在这个项目中，我们将应用ionoSolv木质素分离工艺、最先进的木质素表征和纤维生产技术以及新型化学改性技术，通过熔融纺丝生产木质素纤维。目标是在实现汽车行业设定的强度目标的同时，大幅降低75%的碳纤维成本。

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues that society currently faces. Light-weighting of vehicles could reduce emissions from transportation by 10%. A strategy to reduce the weight is replace steel with carbon fibre reinforced composites, however, they key ingredient, carbon fibre, is currently too expensive. Lignin is a major component of wood biomass (ca. 25%) and a promising alternative carbon fibre precursor to expensive and petroleum derived polyacrylonitrile and pitch. Lignin is a cheap co-product of sustainable biofuel production and has beneficial chemical properties for producing carbon fibres. Certain avenues of converting lignin to carbon fibres have been explored before, but the resulting carbon fibres had low strength. In this project, we will apply the ionoSolv lignin isolation process, state-of-the art lignin characterisation and fibre production technology, and novel chemical modifications to produce lignin fibres via melt-spinning.The goal is to reduce carbon fibre cost drastically by 75% while achieving the strength targets set out by the car industry.