Teijin Limited has announced that it has received ISCC Plus certification for both its Tenax carbon fibre and the polyacrylonitrile - PAN - precursor fibre produced at the company’s Mishima plant in Japan.
The PAN precursor fibre is made from sustainable acrylonitrile (AN) using waste and residue from biomass-derived products or recycled raw materials, and produced using the mass balance approach method. The method allows, for example, biomass-derived raw materials to be mixed with petroleum-derived raw materials to create products. The materials are verifiably tracked through the value chain and proportionately attributed to the end product.
The sustainable acrylonitrile produced in this way has the same molecular structure and physical properties as petroleum-derived AN. Both the PAN and Tenax carbon fibre based on this material are drop-in alternatives that deliver the same physical properties as their fossil-based counterparts.
Teijin expects to begin commercial production of both mass-balanced products by the first half of 2024.
The company has said it will also be pursuing ISCC Plus certification for its carbon fibre and related products produced in Europe, the United States and Asia to expand the availability of these more sustainable products.
Carbon fibre, a strong yet lightweight material that can help reduce energy consumption, is used in a wide range of applications across various industries. Teijin said that it has also explored ways to further cut GHG emissions throughout its supply chains in response to demand for products with a lower environmental impact. The company now powers its manufacturing sites with natural gas and has adopted a lifecycle assessment (LCA) approach to calculate the environmental footprint of its carbon fibre and intermediate materials.