One of the ways governments and industries are trying to save on carbon is to find ways to use materials which are made from carbon fibers so that they do not end up in landfills. Not only do these materials represent a large percentage of the waste that is tossed into landfills it also means that more materials much be made to replace those thrown into the trash, which leads to more carbon emissions and more waste. This cycle of waste is exactly what has gotten the world into its current climate dilemmas as human beings have been irresponsible in their use of toxic materials and have been wasteful when it comes to reusing these products. That is why a recent study was launched by the University of Nottingham which aims to find new and better ways to recycle and reuse materials which have carbon fibers.
These types of processes for recycling the carbon fibers that are found in composites are very quickly emerging but they face some difficult problems which must be overcome if these materials are to be reused in an efficient way. The UK AFRECAR project, which is headed by the University of Nottingham, aims to solve the two key issues that are holding back this technology. The first problem is how to recycle these materials while maintaining its structural integrity so that they are products that actually have some value.
The second problem is how to best recover useful products that come from polymer resin. The project aims to figure these problems out so this type of reuse can become common.
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