Boeing & ELG Carbon Fibre Team Up To Recycle Carbon Fiber At 11 Sites

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Boeing is working with ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. to recycle “aerospace-grade composite material,” which can then be reused to build other products. The partnership aims to recycle excess carbon fiber from 11 Boeing manufacturing facilities, including materials that would be used to build 777X and 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The aim, according to Boeing, is to “reduce solid waste by more than one millions pounds a year.” This will contribute to Boeing’s overall plan to reduce the amount of waste it sends to landfills by 20% within the next seven years.

From Pilot To Partnership

Before fully agreeing to a partnership, Boeing and ELG entered into a pilot program where they worked to recycle materials at the Boeing Composite Wing Center in Everett, Washington. The challenge in the past had been recycling materials that were cured for use in aircraft manufacturing. To overcome that challenge, ELG developed a way to turn cured carbon fiber into clean material by using a furnace to burn off the resin that bonded the layers together. This pilot project led to saving 380,000 pounds (172,365 kilograms) of carbon fiber over 18 months, which Boeing says was then “cleaned and sold to companies in the electronics and transportation industries.”

“Recycling cured carbon fiber was not possible just a few years ago,” says Tia Benson Tolle, materials and fabrication director for product strategy and future airplane development at Boeing. “We are excited to collaborate with ELG and leverage innovative recycling methods to work toward a vision where no composite scrap will be sent to landfills.”

Only The Beginning

The two companies are currently in discussions to potentially bring this recycling program to three more Boeing locations in Canada, China, and Malaysia. And due to the success of the initial pilot and this newly announced partnership, ELG plans to grow its 39-strong workforce to 112 employees by the end of next year.

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Source: Boeing

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