By Rob Coppinger in London
Airbus and Boeing are separately investigating the recovery of carbonfibre from waste material with the help of UK-based composites recycling specialist Milled Carbon. The company has a pyrolysis process for removing resin from processed carbonfibre structures.
With 30-40% resin-impregnated material wasted in the production process, aerospace companies want to recover as much fibre as possible. Milled Carbon expects to be removing resin from Boeing-supplied aerostructures later this year, fibre from which will then be returned to the US company to be tested in production processes for other aircraft parts.
Milled Carbon is talking to Airbus about similar work. “World annual carbonfibre production is 25,000t and could reach 35,000t in the next few years. The potential savings are enormous,” says managing director John Davidson.
The company is a member of the Boeing-led Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association, which is investigating airliner dismantling procedures.
Source: Flight International
