Westlake Corporation announced on June 12th that Westlake Epoxy will collaborate with Alpha Recyclage Composites to support them in scaling up the recycling capacity for carbon fibre composite materials. This collaboration will provide support to Westlake’s composite customers in their development of improved circular options for both production (scrap or off-spec composite materials that otherwise become waste) and end-of-life waste. The recovery of carbon fibres from composite materials for reuse in new or emerging applications aims to establish a more sustainable alternative to traditional disposal methods such as landfilling and incineration.
Alpha Recyclage Composites, a family-owned company based in Toulouse and Castelsarrasin, France, specialises in recycling carbon-fibre-reinforced composites through a patented steam pyrolysis process. This innovative technology preserves the performance qualities of the carbon fibres used in composite materials recovered from applications including aerospace components, automotive parts, and wind turbine blades. With Westlake’s support and to meet growing demand, Alpha Recyclage Composites is expanding its current batch unit to a semi-continuous operation, targeting a capacity of 1,000 metric tons of waste carbon fibre composites recycled per year by 2027.
“We are pleased to collaborate with Alpha Recyclage,” says Brian Powers, Vice President – Westlake Epoxy. “This initiative supports Westlake’s broader sustainability goals and aligns with industry’s efforts and our customers’ objectives to reduce waste and promote the reuse of valuable materials through circular solutions.”
By fostering the relationships between Westlake’s composite customers and Alpha Recyclage Composites, Westlake Epoxy aims to connect its customers to Alpha Recyclage’s expanded capacity and, in turn, support composite customers in their development of new applications that integrate recycled carbon fibres in different forms. The development of new applications utilising the recovered carbon fibres could pair well with Westlake Epoxy’s EpoVIVE portfolio of resin grades with varying sustainable characteristics, like resins that utilise mass-balanced renewable raw materials. Westlake Epoxy also plans to leverage this collaboration with Alpha Recyclage to explore and develop solutions for the recovery of organic components from composite materials and how those recovered organics can be applied to further enhance circularity options for the composites value chain.
Laura Pech, CEO of Alpha Recyclage Composites, added: “With over 25 years of experience in tires recycling, including a large-scale steam pyrolysis plant for tires – our family is proud to adapt this process to composite materials. We view Westlake as a strategic collaborator to help us grow this initiative into a more sustainable and profitable business.”
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