Impact of the Manufacturing Processes of Aromatic-Polymer-Based Carbon Fiber on Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. CF Production Processes
2.1.1. PAN CF Production Process
2.1.2. Aromatic Polymer CF Production Process
2.2. Functional Unit and System Boundary
2.3. Inventory Analysis
2.4. Assumptions
- Ratio of reused solvent: 95% [32];
- Ratio of reused catalyst: 95%;
- Carbonization efficiency: PAN CF = 50% and AP CF = 75%;
- Possibility of heat reduction was fixed;
- Power-reduction ratio by LT (large tow): 75% of RT (regular tow);
- Sizes of RT and LT models were 12 k and 48 k, respectively;
- Weight ratio of PBI to PBN was 1:1.
3. Results
3.1. GHG Emissions from the Raw Materials
3.2. GHG Emissions from the Precursors
3.3. GHG Emissions from AP and PAN CFs
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
- Production processes of AP CFs exhibit good potential in reducing GHG emissions compared with those from PAN CFs. Furthermore, these processes omit gas-phase stabilization, which is the bottleneck in the conventional production of CFs, thereby improving the performance of carbonization and reducing the GHG emissions from the fiber body by 11%.
- GHG emissions from APs were identified for the first time by the coupling method. The observed value of 40.46 kg-CO2 eq/kg was approximately 25% higher than that of PAN-based CFs and approximately 40% higher than that of CFs derived from APs using the classical method. Although CFs derived from APs from the coupling method are free from carcinogenic risk, this analysis raises a question regarding the utilization of the coupling method as far as GHG emissions are concerned. The use of APs in the coupling method requires a reduction in GHG emissions during precursor fabrication.
- The trade-off between GHG emissions and carcinogenic risk was confirmed by comparing the classical and coupling methods in TAB production. One solution is to use the benzidine process under control without leakage of hazardous substances.
- Our analysis results were consistent with the previous studies of GHG emissions for AP and PAN CFs. GHG emissions from AP CFs were approximately 20% lower than those from PAN CFs. This supports our analysis results. Since there are no data for GHG emissions from the coupling method, we need to wait for a new analysis or until the GHG coefficients of TAB and NTCA are defined in the IDEA_v2.1.3 database.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Sakamoto, K.; Kawajiri, K.; Hatori, H.; Tahara, K. Impact of the Manufacturing Processes of Aromatic-Polymer-Based Carbon Fiber on Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Sustainability 2022, 14, 3541. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063541
Sakamoto K, Kawajiri K, Hatori H, Tahara K. Impact of the Manufacturing Processes of Aromatic-Polymer-Based Carbon Fiber on Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Sustainability. 2022; 14(6):3541. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063541
Chicago/Turabian StyleSakamoto, Kaito, Kotaro Kawajiri, Hiroaki Hatori, and Kiyotaka Tahara. 2022. "Impact of the Manufacturing Processes of Aromatic-Polymer-Based Carbon Fiber on Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions" Sustainability 14, no. 6: 3541. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063541