Iowa State University engineers are developing carbon fiber made from lignin and aqueous bio-oil, both low-value coproducts of paper production and biomass pyrolysis. The team says the material meets U.S. Department of Energy performance targets for automotive carbon fiber while keeping costs below $5 per pound. A four-year, $2 million National Science Foundation grant will help move the process from lab batches to continuous production. The research targets a key cost problem: carbon fiber is usually made from petroleum precursors, which keeps it expensive and limits its use to premium applications like aerospace and high-end sporting goods. If lignin-based fiber can be produced at scale, it could give paper mills and pyrolysis plants a new revenue stream and provide a domestic, biobased structural material. Collaborators include Harper International, Latis Materials, and Ames-based Rise Energy. The project is still in the scale-up phase. The reported tensile strength and stiffness numbers look promising, but the real test is whether continuous production can maintain the same quality and cost. That is exactly what the new grant is designed to answer.
