Published: 18 Sep 2024
Composights, the
industry's first-ever portal dedicated to composites business intelligence, has
published a new thought
leadership report titled “Carbon Fiber Recycling: A Commercial Perspective”,
which addresses the growing need for achieving carbon fiber circularity and
thus details the opportunities and challenges present in the evolving carbon
fiber (CF) recycling industry.
The report provides essential insights derived from internal
research and contributions from experts across the CF recycling value chain.
The complete report can be downloaded for free, here.
Key findings from the report:
Understanding the key findings:
According to the report, the CF recycling market will be
worth more than $400 million by 2030, with ~30 kilotons of
recycled CF being consumed annually across different industries.
The report highlights the disparity between the growth in
the demand for CF versus the advancements in the state of recycling and
identifies the gaps in capacity. According to the report, the global demand for
CF has grown ~20x over the past five decades, outpacing the
development of commercial recycling initiatives, which have only become active
in the last decade.
The gap between the annually produced CF waste and the
existing recycling capacity is so huge that even the combined nameplate
capacity of all carbon fiber recycling companies would leave ~50% of the globally produced CF waste
untreated, claims the report.
The report classifies the inward flow of waste primarily
from two streams namely ‘Factory’ waste and ‘End-of-Life (EoL)’ waste and also
studies the waste production trends. According to the report, starting from
2029, 100+ kilotons of CF waste will be generated globally
every year, most of which will be factory waste. The ease of recycling and
sourcing for both kinds of waste has also been discussed in the report.
A high-level regional analysis of the annual production
capacities and consumption of CF is also presented, which aids in the
identification of the highest waste-generating regions for both types of waste.
Based on the annual production capacities and consumption, in conjunction with
the presence of major players, the APAC region, mainly driven by
China has been identified as the most lucrative region for CF recycling
companies, in the report.
The pros and cons of different recycling methods have been
highlighted and thermal methods, being the middle ground between mechanical and
chemical recycling methods in terms of setup/processing cost and amount of CF
recovered, has been found to be the most common technique among the current
recycling companies. Promising non-conventional recycling techniques from
companies like Fairmat (Paris, France) have also been mentioned.
Sporting goods, consumer electronics, and semi-structural automotive parts have been identified as the most high-volume applications of recycled CF primarily since none of these require exceptional mechanical properties. While most CF recycling companies have been found to be offering just recycled ‘material’, there are companies like Fairmat and Thermolysis Asia (Taiwan R.O.C) that are offering end products manufactured using their own recycled CF.
An overview of the challenges and outlook:
Sourcing EoL CF scrap and maintaining a low price with high quality are among the top challenges being faced by CF recycling companies, as per the study. Another challenge is the readiness to use recycled CF and experts who contributed to this report had different opinions regarding the acceptance of recycled CF across potential industries. While some said that almost everyone is interested in buying recycled material, others said that the industry needs to educate the potential buyers first, about the advantage of recycled CF.
Despite the challenges, the demand for CF recycling does not seem to abate for at least the next 2-3 decades since the penetration of carbon composites is quite high in industries like the wind and aerospace currently, and all the composite-rich parts/structures that are currently in service will reach their EoL in the next three decades. ~40 kilotons of EoL waste is expected to be generated by the commercial aerospace industry alone, in the year 2050, as per the report.
The availability of CF waste is thus not going to cease and neither is the need to go green. The ultimate challenge thus for the industry right now is to figure out how to achieve sustainability first, and then turn this sustainability into profitability.
Read in more detail, about the trajectory of the Carbon Fiber Recycling industry, in our latest report, available for free access, here:
Carbon Fiber Recycling: A Commercial Perspective
( https://www.composights.com/composights-portal/carbon-fiber-recycling-a-commercial-perspective )
About Composights
Composights is a first-of-its-kind dedicated portal for composites business intelligence, launched by Stratview Research, a global leader in market research and consulting for the composites industry. Our mission is to empower professionals across the composites value chain with the critical insights they need to stay informed and make strategic decisions. Backed by the extensive industry knowledge and resources of Stratview Research, Composights provides unmatched depth and quality of analysis. Membership to the Composights portal is free for qualified professionals working within the composites value chain.
Published: 18 Sep 2024
Composights, the
industry's first-ever portal dedicated to composites business intelligence, has
published a new thought
leadership report titled “Carbon Fiber Recycling: A Commercial Perspective”,
which addresses the growing need for achieving carbon fiber circularity and
thus details the opportunities and challenges present in the evolving carbon
fiber (CF) recycling industry.
The report provides essential insights derived from internal
research and contributions from experts across the CF recycling value chain.
The complete report can be downloaded for free, here.
Key findings from the report:
Understanding the key findings:
According to the report, the CF recycling market will be
worth more than $400 million by 2030, with ~30 kilotons of
recycled CF being consumed annually across different industries.
The report highlights the disparity between the growth in
the demand for CF versus the advancements in the state of recycling and
identifies the gaps in capacity. According to the report, the global demand for
CF has grown ~20x over the past five decades, outpacing the
development of commercial recycling initiatives, which have only become active
in the last decade.
The gap between the annually produced CF waste and the
existing recycling capacity is so huge that even the combined nameplate
capacity of all carbon fiber recycling companies would leave ~50% of the globally produced CF waste
untreated, claims the report.
The report classifies the inward flow of waste primarily
from two streams namely ‘Factory’ waste and ‘End-of-Life (EoL)’ waste and also
studies the waste production trends. According to the report, starting from
2029, 100+ kilotons of CF waste will be generated globally
every year, most of which will be factory waste. The ease of recycling and
sourcing for both kinds of waste has also been discussed in the report.
A high-level regional analysis of the annual production
capacities and consumption of CF is also presented, which aids in the
identification of the highest waste-generating regions for both types of waste.
Based on the annual production capacities and consumption, in conjunction with
the presence of major players, the APAC region, mainly driven by
China has been identified as the most lucrative region for CF recycling
companies, in the report.
The pros and cons of different recycling methods have been
highlighted and thermal methods, being the middle ground between mechanical and
chemical recycling methods in terms of setup/processing cost and amount of CF
recovered, has been found to be the most common technique among the current
recycling companies. Promising non-conventional recycling techniques from
companies like Fairmat (Paris, France) have also been mentioned.
Sporting goods, consumer electronics, and semi-structural automotive parts have been identified as the most high-volume applications of recycled CF primarily since none of these require exceptional mechanical properties. While most CF recycling companies have been found to be offering just recycled ‘material’, there are companies like Fairmat and Thermolysis Asia (Taiwan R.O.C) that are offering end products manufactured using their own recycled CF.
An overview of the challenges and outlook:
Sourcing EoL CF scrap and maintaining a low price with high quality are among the top challenges being faced by CF recycling companies, as per the study. Another challenge is the readiness to use recycled CF and experts who contributed to this report had different opinions regarding the acceptance of recycled CF across potential industries. While some said that almost everyone is interested in buying recycled material, others said that the industry needs to educate the potential buyers first, about the advantage of recycled CF.
Despite the challenges, the demand for CF recycling does not seem to abate for at least the next 2-3 decades since the penetration of carbon composites is quite high in industries like the wind and aerospace currently, and all the composite-rich parts/structures that are currently in service will reach their EoL in the next three decades. ~40 kilotons of EoL waste is expected to be generated by the commercial aerospace industry alone, in the year 2050, as per the report.
The availability of CF waste is thus not going to cease and neither is the need to go green. The ultimate challenge thus for the industry right now is to figure out how to achieve sustainability first, and then turn this sustainability into profitability.
Read in more detail, about the trajectory of the Carbon Fiber Recycling industry, in our latest report, available for free access, here:
Carbon Fiber Recycling: A Commercial Perspective
( https://www.composights.com/composights-portal/carbon-fiber-recycling-a-commercial-perspective )
About Composights
Composights is a first-of-its-kind dedicated portal for composites business intelligence, launched by Stratview Research, a global leader in market research and consulting for the composites industry. Our mission is to empower professionals across the composites value chain with the critical insights they need to stay informed and make strategic decisions. Backed by the extensive industry knowledge and resources of Stratview Research, Composights provides unmatched depth and quality of analysis. Membership to the Composights portal is free for qualified professionals working within the composites value chain.
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