Lignin Carbon Fiber

[asalisbury]

I've been doing some research into lignin as a precursor for carbon fiber manufacturing. Lignin seems to be an almost entirely random "polymer" with billions of molecule combinations. There's been some work into trying to bring it to market in the 60's and 70's, but to my knowledge it is not currently being sold. Why isn't lignin used as a precursor more commonly, and what are the biggest technical challenges with developing a commercially viable carbon fiber from lignin?



asalisbury
EIT Mechanical
Aerospace Composites

 

[Compositepro]

There is a lot of research going on now into lignin based carbon fiber at Oakridge, Tennessee. Should be easy to find on Google.