New method for recycling all components in carbon fibre composites
Ajinkya Pal (left), Sydney Reiber, Stephen Dempsey, and Ciaran Lahive are part of a team at the BOTTLE consortium at NREL that developed a robust method to break down composite carbon fibers and keep waste out of landfills (Photo: Joe DelNero, NREL).
June 24, 2025 – Carbon fibre composites (CFRPs) are extremely strong and lightweight materials, made from epoxy–amine resins that enclose long carbon fibres. CFRPs enable lighter and more efficient bicycles, aircraft, and cars, and are essential for the pressure vessels used to store and transport compressed natural gas.
However, their costly and energy-intensive production limits broader adoption, and scalable, economically viable recycling methods for these critical materials have been virtually nonexistent.
CFRPs are generally made with epoxy-amine resins, chemically similar to many epoxy resins found in hardware stores. These composites form a rigid and durable plastic that cannot be dissolved or melted.
Now, scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a new method that does break down epoxy resins. The surprising trick? Hot acetic acid.
(The research took place as part of the Bio-Optimized Technologies to keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment, or BOTTLE, initiative.)
The study was published earlier this month in Nature under the title ‘Acetolysis for epoxy-amine carbon fibre-reinforced polymer recycling.’
