ACMA members only - by invitation only

Shuttle buses will depart from the Hilton Knoxville at 1:45 pm, 2:45 pm, and 3:30 pm and will return to the hotel after each tour. You may also walk to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (approx. 15 min).

Join attendees from around the globe for cocktails and conversation before the conference begins. Don’t miss the opportunity to meet and share your learning objectives for the conference.

Experiences with recycling in Europe will be reviewed both from a logistic, cost as well as an LCA perspective. Logistics remain a major concern, often underestimated, since only for a limited number of end of use material is sufficiently concentrated to make effective re-use possible. This is also partly due to insufficient waste legislation. It will be shown that some proposed recycling processes are demonstrably disadvantageous from both a cost and LCA perspective. Finally, upcoming rulings as well as a number of examples under the nominator of “circular economy” will be highlighted that show how composites at their end of use can be re-applied.

Jaap van der Woude, EuCIA

This presentation we will review the outputs from two EPSRC funded research projects focused on the cost effective recycling of end-of-life glass fiber composites from automotive (TARF-LCV: Towards Affordable, Closed-Loop Recyclable Future Low Carbon Vehicle Structures) and wind energy applications (ReCoVeR: Regenerated Composite Value Reinforcement). The mission of the ReCoVeR team is to research and grow the knowledge to enable the development of cost-effective, drop-in, glass fiber and composite products based on recycled glass fibers with regenerated mechanical performance. The Research Goals for the project are threefold:

(1) Generate fundamental understanding of the changes in glass fibers caused by thermo-mechanical conditioning
(2) Develop cost effective treatments to regenerate the performance of thermo-mechanically recycled glass fibers
(3) Produce examples of glass fiber and composite products using regenerated glass fibers

The presentation will provide an overview of the research results from all three areas of the project.

Jim Thomason, University of Strathclyde

Sustainability has always been at the heart of the composites value proposition. This is evident in the products we make, the way we make them, and the improved life cycle impact of the applications we convert from traditional materials. Together, we use our deep expertise in fundamental science, materials, manufacturing, application engineering and more, to develop solutions that improve our quality of life. Collaboratively, we offer environmentally-preferred solutions for some of the world’s most pressing issues such as climate change, energy generation and consumption, infrastructure development, transportation, industrial energy efficiency, and safe, healthy and efficient homes. Having said all that, the gap in end-of-life recycling of our materials, pragmatically and at scale, remains a challenge for us to solve, together, as the world embraces the principles of a circular economy.

Frank O’Brien-Bernini, Owens Corning

Tim Spahn, Carbon Fiber Recycling, Inc.

Ryan Ginder, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Vinyl ester prepregs have an attractive value proposition for composite fabrication. They are extremely stable at room temperature and do not need to be refrigerated. They can be compression molded with cure times of 3 minutes or less. They do not contain styrene or other reactive diluents, and they have embodied energy advantages over other resin systems. Vinyl ester prepregs are also attractive from a recycling and re-use perspective; they can reduce the amount of process scrap that needs to go to a landfill. This presentation will describe processes that enable recovery of carbon fibers from prepreg scrap. The re-use of prepreg scrap in molding or co-molding operations will also be described.

Joe Fox, Ashland Performance Materials

Moderator: Ed Pilpel, PolyOne Advanced Composites

Tim Coope, National Composites Centre UK
Mike Gruskiewicz, A. Schulman, Inc.
Andrew Maxey, Vartega Inc.
Jaap van der Woude, EuCIA

Studies on degradable curing agents in epoxy resin formulations have demonstrated the commercialization of such formulated resins in carbon fiber composite applications. The recyclable composite laminates made with recyclable resins have proven to have comparable mechanical properties with the ones made with traditional resins. The complete resin degradation and recycling and reuse of both fiber and reclaimed resins will be discussed.

Bo Liang, Adesso Advanced Materials Inc.

Pete George, The Boeing Company

Carbon fibre recycling has been established at an industrial scale and carbon fibre products suitable for use in high volume, low cost manufacturing processes have been developed. This presentation will discuss the current status of carbon fibre recycling and recycled carbon fibre products, in addition to, the development of design data and case studies that have confirmed the technical and commercial viability of these products.

Alasdair Gledhill, ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd.

This session will explore the early outcomes of some recently held trials in recycling composites. These trials are part of a larger ACMA led IACMI project to develop a way to use a hybrid composite waste stream to create a marketable hybrid material. The session will also address whether this waste stream could be used in 3D printing and other additive manufacturing technology.

Dan Coughlin, ACMA

Following the conference sessions, join us for the Networking Reception to discuss the day’s sessions, talk with sponsors and share some cocktails with fellow attendees.

John Busel, ACMA

This presentation will explore the ways in which recovered carbon fibre can be used in composite materials and demonstrate the potential environmental benefits, using life cycle analysis (LCA), for different types of vehicle components in the automotive industry. Manufacturing techniques for recovered carbon fibre will be described compared with those for virgin carbon fibre and the environmental impact assessed using LCA. It will be shown that over the life cycle of a vehicle, components made from recovered carbon fibre can give a lower environmental impact than those made from metals or virgin carbon fibre composites. But the benefits depend upon the type of component made, the vehicle application, the carbon fibre volume fraction in the composite and the material substituted.

Steven Pickering, University of Nottingham

Stephen Rawson, R + M International Sales Corp.

Henry Brandhorst, CHZ

This presentation will discuss the procedures for decommissioning wind turbine blades and the manufacturing process to turn the recycled feedstock into second generation composites. Product performance and marketing aspects will also be discussed along with the business model to support this project.

Karl Englund, Global Fiberglass Solutions, Inc.

Discuss the application of processing waste fiberglass and recycled plastic to create a next generation composite rail road tie.

Matt Moore, Evertrak

CRTC has been developing new applications with scrap aerospace carbon fiber pre-preg (epoxy and other resin systems). The effort has been made to re-use this material for three commercially launched products, with three more in the immediate pipeline. The presentation will describe challenges to re-using this material, including logistics of separation and collection, and discuss how cost opportunities enabled by recycled materials are opening up new avenues for future virgin fiber sales.

David Walter, Composite Recycling Technology Center (CRTC)
Geoffrey Wood, Composite Recycling Technology Center (CRTC)

The shuttle bus will depart the Hilton Knoxville at 1:40 pm and return to the hotel by 5:00 pm.