Abstract: Climate change is one of the biggest threats our society currently faces. In order to avoid the catastrophic impact of unmitigated climate change, we need to rapidly de-fossilise our economy. Significant weight and fuel savings (up to 35% of weight and 10% of total worldwide liquid fuel consumption) can be achieved by replacing steel used in the construction of cars and aircraft with carbon fibre reinforced composites. This will aid de-fossilising the transportation sector, however, carbon fibres are currently not affordable in the mass market. Severing the fossil resource dependency of the polymer/materials industry is also an important aspect of transforming the economy. However, the precursors used for conventional carbon fibres are derived from petroleum and hence not made from ‘sustainable carbon’.
In this seminar, I will introduce the concept of producing low-cost carbon fibres from lignin. Lignin is a major component of wood (~25%) and a by-product of the manufacturing of cellulose materials (e.g. paper, tissues, packaging), 2nd generation biofuels and bio-based chemicals. Transforming part of the extracted lignin into carbon fibres has the potential to drastically cut the cost of carbon fibres by more than 75%, due to the low value of lignin and its high carbon content. However, the strength of such carbon fibres has to be improved sufficiently. In my research group, we will create low-cost carbon fibres from lignin that achieve the strength targets set out by the automotive industry. I will present early results from our work and formulate plans for designing lignin on a chemical level to improve polymer alignment in the precursor fibre.