The Spanish company Montefibre Carbon announced on February 18 that it will invest 16.2 million euros (about 17.4 million US dollars) in the production of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursors in its Miranda de Ebro plant. Convert to carbon fiber with aerospace-like quality and establish a flexible carbonization production line. About 11.5 million euros came from the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Industry.
Montefibre Carbon claims that the new PAN precursor fiber has a tensile strength of 700 ksi and will be sold under the M700 brand. According to reports, this new carbonization production line will become one of the most advanced production lines in the industry, used for the development and demonstration of Montefibre carbon fiber, serving the company's 80K to 480K fiber products. The production line has a capacity of up to 100 tons per year.
"The support of the Spanish public administration is crucial to the success of the Montefibre Carbon project, which is critical to enhancing the industrial competitiveness of Spain, Castilla y León and Miranda de Ebro "Alfonso Cirera Santasusana, President and CEO of Montefibre Carbon, said.
The carbonization production line is planned to be put into operation at the end of 2021, and will become an important hub before commercial scale production. The line will provide the market with sufficient carbon fiber needed for product development, help the Miranda plant achieve part of the function transformation, and build it into a joint R & D center.
Montefibre's carbonization line will be the first Spanish company to own the second carbon fiber line installed in Spain (the first is the line that Hexel built in Illescas in 2008). In addition, Montefibre said that even in the demonstration stage, it will become the third largest carbon fiber producer in Europe (after Germany SGL and Belgium Solvay).
Montefibre Carbon is currently adjusting four of its seven spinning production lines to convert large tow PAN precursors into carbon fiber to the market with a capacity of approximately 17,000 tons / year. The first precursor to enter the market is Montefibre 80K products, including M500 (tensile strength 500 ksi) and M600 (tensile strength 600 ksi), the product is expected to be launched this year. The development and testing of M700 premium carbon fiber will be carried out at the Montefibre plant.
Montefibre also received support from Leitat, the Spanish technology center, and reached a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) of the US Department of Energy. In addition, the company is a member of the Advanced Composite Manufacturing Innovation Institute (IACMI, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA).