Longworth joins Sustainable Composites partnership

Posted on 30 June 2020

Longworth joins Sustainable Composites partnership with the National Composites Centre (NCC) and CPI.

Sustainable Composites is kickstarting a number of projects to mature existing technologies and to develop new and innovative disassembly, reuse and recycling methods in the move to achieve a circular economy in carbon fibre composites.

Drawing together the knowledge and expertise from the NCC, CPI and Longworth, this project aims to answer the most pressing questions for the wind and aerospace industry concerning end-of-life for composites.

Steam to Value Stream project

The project will investigate how Longworth’s DEECOM® process can be used to reclaim high performance fibres, and whether the same process can also recover some of the matrix material. The fibres reclaimed will then be used in the University of Bristol’s HiPerDiF fibre realignment technology to create recycled, highly aligned semi-preg tapes.

Read more about the project.

Originally invented as a cleaning process for the plastics industry, DEECOM® works using superheated pressurised steam to remove resins and reduce polymers. Fibres with ‘pristine’ tensile strength and mechanical performance properties can then be reclaimed and remanufactured.

John Norris, Longworth chairman said, “This project and the partnership with our colleagues at NCC aligns perfectly with our ambitions for DEECOM® technology and the benefits it can bring to the waste sector. While innovators first and foremost, our passion as environmentalists is to bring low carbon solutions to the industries that we work within. We’re excited to see the outcome.”