New Tennessee Facility Could Recycle 2,000 tons of Carbon Fiber Annually

Carbon Fiber Recycling, Inc. (CFR), a Tazewell, Tenn.-based division of Modern Recovery Systems, Inc., will construct a recycling facility in Tazewell that will be capable of recycling up to 2,000 tons of carbon fiber each year.

The new facility will extract fibers from several different materials and end-of-life products and recover them, making the fibers available for reuse in milled or random chopped form.

The facility will follow CFR’s seven-step process for fiber recycling, which involves receiving cured epoxy resin, laden wet carbon fiber or prepreg waste from companies, sizing and decontaminating the material, processing through CFR’s technology and ending up with processed carbon fiber.

Composites Manufacturing has more information:

Tim Spahn, executive director of licensing & sales at Carbon Fiber Recycling, Inc., explained that the company’s facility in Bethel, Conn. is not large enough to keep up with demand.

“[Being in] Tennessee allows us to be able to keep millions of pounds out of the landfill and start to fill the need for the recycling of carbon fiber,” Spahn said. “In a few years, as we grow, we will be looking to build on the west coast to help the west coast carbon fiber industry.”

The company’s current product range includes 3mm, 6mm and 12 mm chopped fiber, milled fiber for uses in epoxy coatings and thermoplastic compounding, and customized thermoplastic compounds.

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