ARC awards Deakin researcher $1M for carbon fibre recycling

Luke Henderson, Professor at Deakin University in Australia, has received funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) for a project focusing on carbon fibre recycling.

Henderson aims to develop technology to enable the use of recycled carbon fibre in the mass production of high-performance parts for wind, solar and hydrogen energy applications.

Carbon fibre is used in industries such as aerospace and sports equipment manufacturing, due to its light weight and strength. It can also be combined with other materials to enhance heat and corrosion resistance in a final product.

Henderson said the annual demand for carbon fibre is expected to exceed global production capability. He says that about two per cent of the thousands of tonnes of carbon fibre produced each year is recycled, and about 95 per cent of today’s composites are made using thermoset polymers – not suitable for the mass production of parts to support the renewable energy, mining, and defence sectors.

“The prediction is that by about 2030, there won’t be enough carbon fibre produced globally to meet demand,” Henderson said.

“Recycling existing carbon fibre products is the only feasible way to access this critical raw material.

“Unfortunately, there’s a perception that recycled carbon fibre is inferior, so what I’m proposing is how can we get rid of that perception? Or, if it is inferior, how can we use it for non-traditional applications?”

Henderson and his team are currently researching how reclaimed and milled carbon fibre can be used to remove pollutants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

“The carbon fibre was shown to isolate the PFAS to its surface and the PFAS-loaded carbon fibre was then able to be returned to loadbearing structures without any detrimental effects on performance,” Henderson said.

“This effectively buries the PFAS in solid structures while we work out how to handle and degrade these persistent molecules.

“At the end of the Fellowship, I hope we can demonstrate a range of new value-added or high value applications for recycled carbon fibre.”

From the Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM), Henderson is one of only 25 researchers across Australia to be awarded a Mid-Career Industry Fellowship under a new scheme from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

The Industry Fellowship Program supports academic researchers in establishing careers in industry and industry-based researchers in universities. It hopes to drive collaboration, translation, and commercialisation outcomes.

Henderson will receive $1,052,296 in ARC funding to develop recyclable carbon fibre composite capability for Australia.

For more information, visit: www.deakin.edu.au.