Plant-based Carbon Fiber Currently Undergoing Research

Researchers may soon be able to produce a cost-effective and more environmentally friendly carbon fiber based on plants.

Currently, carbon fiber is made from petroleum products. It is high strength and lightweight, and used in high-performance cars to help reduce weight and improve handling. Its value is known with more expected to be incorporated in cars, and other vehicles, but, there are issues with it as well.

For one, the petroleum aspect of the manufacturing process makes carbon fiber expensive. While it is now common to find the material in supercars, it’s less-common in everyday vehicles.

Carbon fiber is made from acrylonitrile, which is made of oil, ammonia, oxygen and an expensive catalyst. The heating in the production process creates a toxic byproduct. Since petroleum is involved, the price of carbon fiber tends to fluctuate with the price of oil.

Gregg Beckham, group leader at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is working on a new feedstock for the acrylonitrile.

“If you can stabilize the acrylonitrile price by providing a new feedstock from which to make acrylonitrile, we might be able to make carbon fiber cheaper,” he said.

That new feedstock uses plants. Parts of the plants that people don’t consume, such as corn stalks, are broken down into sugars. They’re then converted into an acid and combined with a catalyst to produce the acrylonitrile. No toxic byproducts were made in the process.

The process isn’t currently scaled enough for automobile product, but scientists are working it on. Readily-available, inexpensive carbon fiber would make it easier for automakers to incorporate it into future vehicles. Those weight savings would benefit everything from the latest performance car to battery-electric vehicles that’ll soon be taking the automotive stage.

[source: Popular Science]

A version of this article first appeared on hybridcars.com

The post Plant-based Carbon Fiber Currently Undergoing Research appeared first on VWVortex.

from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2DBOmHv
via IFTTT

Comments

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier. The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow. While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something . To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it. Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait. So with this in mind, we lined our G...

Event Report: Southern Worthersee 2015

There’s been much ado about this year’s SoWo since this past Saturday night, when Instagram, Facebook and other Social Media channels exploded with images and commentary focusing on the event’s bad eggs. But first, let’s chat a bit about the event itself. Our journey started early Thursday morning as part of the Orchid Euro/Coolwater cruise to the event. What should have taken about 12-13 hours ended up taking much more, as we stopped to help any Volkswagen that needed our assistance. And while the extended commute time wasn’t ideal, it proved to highlight the ‘no person left behind’ spirit of the Volkswagen community- arguably one of the scene’s best qualities. On Friday and Saturday, the town was flooded with enthusiasts, making this year’s event without a doubt the largest yet. Attendees came from as far as California, Mexico City, and event a few straight from the original Wörthersee in Austria, and for most it was well worth the trip. The quality o...

Vorderman Volkswagen

Search This Blog