What is it about?
This paper reviews the state-of-art R&D activities on polyethylene-based carbon fibers production. The manufacturing of the precursor fiber and its conversion process into a carbon fiber were discussed. The review also provides an overview of published information on concepts for commercial production of polyethylene-based carbon fibers and various cost models. The idea behind this review paper was to highlight the advantages of using alternative precursor materials to overcome the high-cost of PAN precursor fibers, i.e. the prevailing feedstock today, which represents approximately 50 % of the production cost of carbon fibers. To this end, the use of a polyethylene precursors will offer an enormous cost-saving potential, due to its high carbon content, low cost, high availability and melt processability.
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Perspectives
The bottleneck in the production of PE‐based carbon fibers is currently the stabilization process. Decisive developments are still required at both equipment and process level to enable industrial production of PE‐based carbon fibers. The upscaling of the sulfonation process to a pilot and eventually industrial scale is imperative for the commercialization as an alternative product to PAN‐based carbon fibers. The challenges lie in the development of an industrial plant technology for sulfonation with a suitable and economical technology for sulfuric acid recovery and exhaust gas treatment. These new technologies can have a major impact on operating and capital costs as well as the process chain's environ-mental compatibility. In addition, process and material development must continue on pilot and industrial scale plants. In particular, the temperature and fiber tension profile used during sulfonation, and carbonization must be optimized. The carbonization process has been studied less than the stabilization process. Research should therefore also focus on the identification of the ideal carbonization parameters and on the handling of the sulfur‐containing exhaust gas.
Mohamed Bouhrara
Aramco Technologies
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A review of polyethylene‐based carbon fiber manufacturing, Applied Research, May 2022, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/appl.202100013.
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