Sabic, Montefibre sign carbon fiber production agreement

to manufacture and market carbon fiber and carbon fiber composites, and this week news comes that plastics and petrochemicals supplier Sabic has acquired a license for carbon fiber technology developed by Montefibre. Other recent annuncements have been made for new CF supply around the globe; see our recent coverage here.

Sabic is Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), among the world's market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers. Montefibre S.p.A. (Milan, Italy) is a supplier of man-made fibers and is among the largest global suppliers of acrylic fibers. It has developed its own process for the production of the polyacrylanitrile (PAN) precursor and, ultimately, carbon fibers.

The technology agreement between the two companies gives Sabic license to that carbon fiber technology. The plastics supplier intends first to use the technology for a new carbon fiber plant to be built in Saudi Arabia. End-use markets for the fibers, and compounds and composite plastics filled with them, include alternative energy, transportation and infrastructure.

Putting a carbon fiber plant on top of an oil well is the best way to reduce the material's production costs. Of the total cost of creating carbon fiber, about €15 million per 1000 tonnes of output, 50% is for raw materials, with two kilograms of oil required to produce a single kg of carbon fiber. Energy is another 35% of the cost, with personnel and other costs the remainder.

The two companies also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the companies to study the feasibility of a new carbon fiber production plant in Spain to be integrated into Montefibre's existing acrylic fiber production site.

Once complete, the carbon fiber project is expected to establish a domestic supply of more than 3000 tonnes of industrial grade carbon fiber to serve customers in the Middle East as well as international markets. Current global CF effective capacity is about 35,000 tonnes/yr, with this expected to hit 60,000-65,000 tonnes/yr by 2015 based on previously announced new plant construction. The Sabic /Montefibre news adds another 6000 tonnes to that.

At Sabic, Koos van Haasteren, executive VP, performance chemicals, commented, "This carbon fiber project will be the basis for the creation of a world-class carbon composites value chain in Saudi Arabia and a valuable extension of our offering of innovative products and services to our customers in key markets. We are looking forward to developing many new and exciting applications as we grow our ability to supply competitive industrial grade carbon fiber products."

The project will also include the creation of a new carbon fiber product development center and composite plastics application development capabilities at the Sabic Plastics Application Development Center (SPADC), which is under construction at the Riyadh Techno Valley research complex at King Saud University.