Nandina REM in Singapore is a new technology launched by A*STAR Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Center to recycle high-quality carbon fiber materials from scrapped aircraft.
These materials will be provided to manufacturers and used in different products. Because the carbon fiber materials are recycled from scrapped aircraft, Nandina REM may allow the market to obtain low-emission, high-quality carbon fiber composites at a lower cost.
This new method solves the problem of recycled carbon fiber maintaining the same mechanical properties as virgin carbon fiber. Because composite materials are challenging to recycle carbon fiber, they cannot be simply melted and modified, and traditional processes will affect the quality of the material.
"There are an estimated 8,000 retired aircraft parked in deserts, jungles, and storage yards around the world. These aircraft will never be used again, and about 15,000 aircraft will be retired in the next 10 years," said Nandina. She added: "The scale of Asia is also huge, with the region accounting for the largest share of aircraft, and by 2050, the aviation industry will generate a cumulative 102,500 tons of unused scrap carbon fiber.
Recovering high-quality circular materials from scrapped aircraft is a key industry achievement, which will bring many new possibilities to multiple fields such as aerospace, and reprocessing retired aircraft can also remove 82 million tons of carbon dioxide. Aviation circularity means that we can keep high-quality materials such as carbon fiber in the high-performance value chain.
