Novi, Mich. — United Kingdom firm ELG Carbon Fibre Ltd. is looking to expand its footprint to North America with a U.S. plant to recycle carbon fiber.
ELG, which currently operates one recycling plant in western central England, also has plans to open a plant in Germany, expected to be operational by 2018, said ELG managing director Frazer Barnes at the Society of Plastics Engineers' Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition Sept. 7 in Novi. The U.S. plant is set to be established by 2019, in a location yet to be determined.
ELG produces recycled carbon fiber materials that it says are capable of performing similarly to virgin CF at a lower cost and with a smaller carbon fiber footprint. In 2015 the company recovered more than 1,000 metric tons of carbon fiber from manufacturing waste and end-of-life components, Barnes said.
The company in July announced it had joined the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, a national organization based in Knoxville, Tenn., to help facilitate its engagement with carbon fiber end-users in the United States.