Carbon fibre makers to begin product recycling in 2008

New Materials Asia, June, 2007

Toray Industries Inc and two other synthetic fibre manufacturers will team up with Mitsui Mining Co Ltd to launch the recycling of carbon fibre next year.

Demand for the use of carbon fibre in both airplane fuselages and sports gear, such as golf clubs and tennis rackets, is growing due to the lightness and strength. Carbon fibre scrap is usually discarded and buried.

Toray, Toho Tenax Co Ltd and Mitsubishi Rayon Co Ltd will collect the carbon fibre scrap from their customers, including aircraft manufacturers. The three firms will outsource the reprocessing of the scrap to Mitsui Mining, which will produce the recycled pulverized carbon fibre.

The alliance is considering Omuta in Fukuoka Prefecture as the site for the recycling facility. With an initial investment of about [yen]400 million (about $3.2 million), the plant is expected to start operations in 2008 and will produce 362.9 t (four hundred tons) of the material in the first year.

Toray, Toho Tenax and Mitsubishi Rayon intend to set up a joint venture to promote sales of the pulverized carbon fibre as cement reinforcement or as a material for electromagnetic shielding.

Traditionally, synthetic fibre manufacturers had been reluctant to venture into the recycling of carbon fibre. However, with carbon fibre scrap estimated to reach 18.14 kt (20 thousand tons) in 2010, the companies invloved in the new scheme have decided that burial as a method of disposal was reaching its limit.

The launch of recycling operations would also help carbon fibre manufacturers market their products to automakers, which have been reluctant to use a material that could not be recycled.

For further information, contact: Toray Industries Inc, No. 10 Chuo

Building, 1-5-6 Nihonbashi Honcho 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0023, Japan; Internet: www.td-net.co.jp; or contact: Toho Tenax Co Ltd, 2-38-16 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan; tel: 81-3-5842-3700; Internet: www.tohotenax.com; or contact: Mitsubishi Rayon Co Ltd, 6-41 Konan-1 chome, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 108-8506, Japan; tel: 81-3-5495-3100; fax: 81-3-5495-3184; Internet: www.mrc.co.jp; or contact: Mitsui Mining Co Ltd, 3-3-3 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan; tel: 81-3-5560-1311; Internet: www.mitsui-mining.co.jp