ELG Carbon Fibre to expand UK facility

Coseley, United Kingdom-based ELG Carbon Fibre has announced plans to increase the capacity of its U.K. facility that prepares carbon fiber materials for recycling. The expansion has been planned to take advantage of what the firm calls increasing demand from large-volume, commercial applications for the material.

ELG Carbon Fibre’s project is focused on increasing the capacity to recover fiber from uncured pre-preg and laminate feedstock, as well as the commercialization of ELG Carbon Fibre’s Carbiso MB product line for reinforced thermoplastic compounds.

This growth has been driven predominately by development projects and technical collaborations with automotive and aerospace OEMs and other manufacturers during the past two years, according to ELG Carbon Fibre.

ELG’s existing U.K. facility houses what it calls highly specialized reclamation and conversion equipment that supports the manufacture of recycled carbon fiber products.

In 2016, ELG installed a custom-built, nonwovens production line to manufacture carbon fiber and hybrid thermoplastic mats. The products are currently being used in automotive programs to promote the use of recycled carbon fiber in the composites industry.

ELG is now directing resources to commercialize Carbiso MB products for the reinforced thermoplastic compounds industry. MB products are produced through converting high-grade, chopped fibers into a pellet form tailored to applications that would traditionally have used chopped virgin carbon fiber.

ELG’s technical partner Sanko Gosei http://www.sanko-gosei.com/, a supplier of components to several industry sectors, has been involved in the development phases of the MB range. Both parties have conducted trials replacing glass fiber reinforced compounds with ELG's recycled carbon fiber-reinforced compounds in a demonstration parts. The companies indicate they have achieved “impressive weight reductions” in the trials.

ELG also is investing in its pyrolysis furnace to increase its output capacity beyond the current 1,000 metric tons of carbon fiber per year. The upgrade will be completed by the end of 2018, after which ELG estimates it will be able to deliver 1,700 metric tons of carbon fiber products per year to its customers.

“We are very focused on investments that offer customers a viable, high-volume alternative to costly virgin carbon fiber,” says Frazer Barnes, managing director of ELG Carbon. “Recycling carbon fibers and converting them into consistent, affordable products is now a reality, and we can deliver products in the significant quantities required at the speed the industry demands.”