Low cost production of carbon fibers from lignin materials

The DOE Vehicle Technologies-funded work at ORNL is directed to the development of processes for the low cost production of carbon fibers. The objective of the project is to develop more energy-efficient, cost-effective processes for production of carbon fibers for use in composite materials for vehicles, which would substantially reduce vehicle weight, increase vehicle fuel economy, and result in lower CO ₂ emissions. Carbon fibers have the potential for substantial weight saving in vehicles because of their remarkable high strength, high modulus, and low density. However, carbon fibers are currently too expensive for large scale automotive use, which necessitates a large reduction in the cost of commercial grade fiber from about $20/lb to $5-7/lb. Lignin, a renewable resource material, has significant potential as a precursor material for low cost carbon fiber production. In this paper we report on progress to demonstrate the melt-spinning of precursor fibers from various lignin sources, the subsequent processing of the lignin precursor fibers into carbon fibers, and carbon fiber properties.