ELG Acquires Carbon Fiber Recycler

ELG Haniel GmbH, Duisburg, Germany, has acquired 100 percent of Recycled Carbon Fiber Ltd. (RCF), based in Coseley, West Midlands, United Kingdom.

RCF refers to itself as the first company in the world to commercially operate a facility that recycles carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) by reclaiming and processing carbon fiber. In addition to RCF’s first site in the West Midlands area, the company says it has an interest in expanding its operations beyond the U.K.

“The acquisition of this young recycling company provides ELG with new growth potential in the rising market for composite materials,” ELG states in a press release announcing the acquisition. “The feedstock material is to a large extent waste from the manufacturing processes of CFRP, which previously had to be either incinerated or sent to land-fill,” the news release also states.

ELG says its stainless steel and alloys recycling infrastructure “as well as ELG’s business relations within the aviation industry will be the benchmark and the spearhead for the global development of this innovative business model.”

The company will be supervised by the present managing director Stephen Line, says ELG, and it will operate under the name of ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd.

ELG has more than 40 recycling, processing and trading locations in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.