JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #86 - January/February 2014 - 60

recycling
About ELG CGF
ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. has been operating the world's first commercial scale continuous carbon
fibre recycling plant since 2009. The site is fully licensed by the UK Environment Agency and
has the capacity to process 2000 metric tons of carbon fibre composite each year.
In 2011 ELG Haniel acquired 100% of the shares of Recycled Carbon Fibre Ltd. and rebranded
the business to form part of the internationally successful ELG group. The ELG Haniel group is
a worldwide metals recycling business that has been in operation for 50 years.

Reclaimed CF pellets for polymer compounding

End-of-life issues
CF is expensive to produce and can
continue to hold both value and mechanical properties after recycling, so
makes economic sense to attempt to
reclaim the fibres.
Batch furnace recycling or chemical
based recycling is too costly and not
fully commercialised yet therefore
uneconomical at present or doesn't
protect supporter's IP well enough.

Reclaimed CF product range

The selling point of using a chemical
bath to remove the matrix is that you
are left with cut shapes of woven/
braided CF ready to be reused etc. but
many of ELG CF's suppliers require
their IP to be fully destroyed with an
accompanying certificate of destruction.
ELG CF uses a large pyrolysis furnace
with a moving belt. The controlled atmosphere allows
the matrix to be
removed but in
the absence of
oxygen there is
no char left on
the fibres. Many
of the unique
processing performed at ELG
CF is patent protected and allows
us a degree of advantage. The real
advantage comes
from bespoke
automation.
Once the fibres

60 jec composites magazine / No86 January - February 2014

have been reclaimed and collected
the rest of the process is closed. This
allows better quality, fewer chances
for contamination to occur and higher
output volumes.

Thermoplastics
Once ELG CF have recycled or
reclaimed the carbon fibre from the
matrix and have chopped the fibres
ready for further processing the CF is
either milled or pelletised. The milled
fibres can be used in laminating or
coatings applications. The advantaged
of Carbiso™ MIL are; High bulk density - 400g/l, No char, 17.5 kilo bags,
Maintained strength and modulus,
100µ average fibre length. Many top
end thermoplastics like PEEK and
PPA are using CF as a reinforcement
but many midrange thermo plastics
like PA, are compounded with CF as
a reinforcement. Due to the mechanical properties and the low density of
CF as a filler, it has become a sought
after additive. The sizing of the
pellets is such that it can be used in
many compounding products. With
long isotropic fibres the pellets can
be compounded further down the
production line, both maintaining
fibre length and reducing processing
time due to the quick and homogeneous dispersion. Therefore producing
a better compound. The advantages
of Carbiso™ PEL products include
low CF dust; fibre strength (3,150
MPa); fibre modulus (200 GPa); low
cost; easy handling; tailored binders
for optimal polymer performance and
environment friendliness (requires
90% less energy than virgin fibre and
is made from reclaimed fibre).

Future products
ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. can produce
Milled fibre, CF Pellets, Milled fibre
granules and raw chopped fibres. We
can also produce bespoke products to
order. If there is a use for short length
CF and cost is a driver then ELG CF
can offer a solution. n
More information:
www.elgcf.com

http://www.elgcf.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #86 - January/February 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #86 - January/February 2014