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Crude oil residues may find new life in lower-cost carbon fiber
When crude oil is processed, a lot of grungy byproducts are left over. A new study indicates that a couple of those substances can be used to make low-cost carbon fibers, which could in turn find use in less costly carbon fiber composites.
With these drawbacks in mind, Prof. Mani Sarathy and colleagues at Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) recently looked to another crude oil processing byproduct – resins. "Previous studies of oil residues have suggested that resins stabilize asphaltene molecules, highlighting their strong molecular affinity," says Edwin Guevara Romero, a researcher in Sarathy's lab. In laboratory tests, such asphaltene-resin blends were found to flow better than asphaltenes alone, allowing them to be spun at lower, more energy-efficient temperatures.
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