Prenzel Tobias Manuel, Hohmann Andrea, Prescher Tim, Angerer Kerstin, Wehner Daniel, Ilg Robert, von Reden Tjark, Drechsler Klaus, Albrecht Stefan
Department Life Cycle Engineering GaBi, Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, Nobelstrasse 12, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV, Am Technologiezentrum 2, 86159 Augsburg, Germany.
Polymers (Basel). 2023 Dec 19;16(1):12. doi: 10.3390/polym16010012.
Carbon fibers (CFs) are a crucial material for lightweight structures with advanced mechanical performance. However, there is still a paucity of detailed understanding regarding the environmental impacts of production. Previously, mostly singled-out scenarios for CF production have been assessed, often based on scarce transparent inventory data. To expand the current knowledge and create a robust database for future evaluation, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out. To this end, a detailed industry-approved LCI is published, which also proved plausible against the literature. Subsequently, based on a global scenario representing the market averages for precursor and CF production, the most relevant contributors to climate change (EF3.1 climate change, total) and the depletion of fossil energy carriers (EF3.1 resource use, fossil) were identified. The energy consumption in CF manufacturing was found to be responsible for 59% of the climate change and 48% of the fossil resource use. To enable a differentiated discussion of manufacturing locations and process energy consumption, 24 distinct scenarios were assessed. The findings demonstrate the significant dependence of the results on the scenarios' boundary conditions: climate change ranges from 13.0 to 34.1 kg CO eq./kg CF and resource use from 262.3 to 497.9 MJ/kg CF. Through the investigated scenarios, the relevant reduction potentials were identified. The presented results help close an existing data gap for high-quality, regionalized, and technology-specific LCA results for the production of CF.
碳纤维（CFs）是具有先进机械性能的轻质结构的关键材料。然而，对于其生产过程中的环境影响，仍缺乏详细的了解。此前，大多是基于稀缺的透明清单数据，对碳纤维生产中个别情况进行评估。为了拓展现有知识并创建一个强大的数据库以供未来评估，开展了一项生命周期评估（LCA）。为此，发布了一份详细的经行业认可的生命周期清单（LCI），与文献对比也证明其合理。随后，基于一个代表前驱体和碳纤维生产市场平均水平的全球情景，确定了对气候变化（EF3.1气候变化，总计）和化石能源载体消耗（EF3.1资源利用，化石）影响最大的数据来源。结果发现，碳纤维制造过程中的能源消耗占气候变化影响的59%，占化石资源利用的48%。为了能够对制造地点和工艺能耗进行差异化讨论，评估了24种不同情景。研究结果表明，结果对情景边界条件有显著依赖性：气候变化范围为13.0至34.1千克二氧化碳当量/千克碳纤维，资源利用范围为262.3至497.9兆焦/千克碳纤维。通过所研究的情景，确定了相关的减排潜力。所呈现的结果有助于填补现有数据空白，获得高质量、区域化且针对碳纤维生产技术特定的生命周期评估结果。
