Tenax carbon fibre to be made with sustainable raw materials

Teijin has announced that it will begin production and sales of Tenax carbon fibre made with sustainable acrylonitrile (AN) using waste and residue from biomass-derived products or recycled raw materials that have received ISCC PLUS certification from the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification system.

Tenax under ISCC Plus certification will be produced at Teijin’s Mishima plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, using the mass balance approach. With this method, materials are verifiably tracked through complex value chains, for example, when biomass-derived raw materials are mixed with petroleum-derived raw materials to create products.

This initiative will advance the Teijin Group’s efforts to minimise the negative impact on the environment and society associated with its business activities. The company strives to protect the global environment in accordance with its long-term vision.

The sustainable AN-based on ISCC PLUS certification has the same physical properties as petroleum-derived AN, Tenax based on this material delivers the same performance attributes and processing as equivalent fossil-based Tenax products. This similarity allows customers to easily drop in Tenax made with bio-based or circular materials, helping to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the product life cycle.

Teijin aims to expand its lineup of sustainable products, so the company is pursuing ISCC PLUS certification not only for carbon fibre including precursor but also for intermediate products such as prepreg and short fibre which use sustainable raw materials. Further, to strengthen production of sustainable products globally, the company is proceeding with activities to obtain ISCC PLUS certification at overseas locations. Teijin’s European facilities are expected to obtain certification in early fiscal 2024, and US facilities should obtain certification during fiscal 2024.

Carbon fibre, a light and strong reinforcement material, is used in a wide range of markets, including aerospace, automotive and sporting goods. With growing pressure to reduce GHG emissions throughout the product lifecycle, the materials industry is striving to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing processes involving carbon fibre throughout the supply chain.

Under these circumstances, Teijin has switched the fuel for in-house power generation equipment at manufacturing sites from oil fired power generation to natural gas in 2017. Additionally, Teijin has established life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluation for carbon fibre products related to its products in 2021 and 2022. Furthermore, in June 2023, we obtained ISCC PLUS certification for Tenax and the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor fibre produced at Teijin’s Mishima Plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

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