Economic and environmental assessment of asphaltene-derived carbon fiber production

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the use of carbon fibers for a wide variety of applications, including automotive, aerospace, wind turbine, sporting goods, energy storage, civil engineering, and grid applications, etc . This momentum is primarily driven by the excellent mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of carbon fibers. Asphaltenes ( i.e. , the heavy fraction of bitumen) have recently been identified as promising low-cost precursors for developing low-cost carbon fibers that could accelerate the widespread adoption of carbon fibers in existing and new industries. Here we report on the techno-economic and life cycle assessment of asphaltene-derived carbon fiber (A-CF) production to assess its economic and climate benefits. Our techno-economic analysis indicates that the production cost can be kept below USD 9 per kg of A-CF, which is primarily due to the use of the inexpensive asphaltene precursor. Further cost reduction can be achieved by reducing the energy use of the high-temperature carbonization step, which takes up nearly 25% of the production cost. Furthermore, cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis (LCA) reveals that A-CF can offer potential climate benefits as compared to the incumbent precursors (PAN, pitch, and lignin-based CF), with the lowest global warming potential (GWP) of ∼7.46 kg CO 2 -eq per kg of A-CF. Our analysis indicates that precursor (asphaltene) extraction during bitumen partial upgrading stands out as the most energy-intensive phase (32% of total A-CF production energy) and in turn dictates the net environmental impacts. Finally, a commercial scale analysis depicts that our A-CF route can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 48% compared to the combustible use of asphaltene. Moreover, the A-CF route can also displace energy-intensive PAN-based CF (P-CF) with an annual GHG reduction potential of 2081 kilo tonne CO 2 -eq and 4162 kilo tonne CO 2 -eq compared to P-CF if A-CF penetrates 20% and 40%, respectively of the projected global CF market in 2032. The asphaltene-derived carbon fiber production route demonstrates significant potential, emerging as a highly cost-effective alternative with promising climate benefits compared to the incumbent carbon fiber production methods.