Title: Plasma Oxidation: Accelerated Throughput and Reduced Energy Consumption for Carbon Fiber Conversion Plants

Authors: Truman A. Bonds

DOI: 10.33599/nasampe/c.25.196

Abstract: Oxidation is the time bottleneck of converting polyacrylonitrile precursor into carbon fiber. Attempts at reducing this time requirement include chemical modification to the precursor. Chemical modification of the oxidation process itself has never been commercialized. We will present a highly scalable chemically modified oxidation process that has 3X faster throughput with additional advantages.

References: Plasma oxidation has been demonstrated to accelerate oxidation time by 3X or more while maintaining or improving final carbon fiber properties. This translates into significant unit energy savings (kWh/kg), capital and operating costs, and emissions and environmental advantages. 4M has several partnerships in place for product qualification and equipment scale up. The most significant barrier is the many millions of dollars required to scale a large industrial technology to full scale. This is slowly being overcome with the right strategic partnerships being put in place. 6. REFERENCES 1 J. R. Roth, Industrial Plasma Engineering. Volume 2: Applications to Nonthermal Plasma Processing. Bristol: Institute Of Physics Publishing, 2001. 2 G. E. Georghiou, a P. Papadakis, R. Morrow, and a C. Metaxas, “Numerical modelling of atmospheric pressure gas discharges leading to plasma production,” J. Phys. D. Appl. Phys., vol. 38, pp. R303–R328, 2005. 3 Y. V Serdyuk, a Larsson, S. M. Gubanski, and M. Akyuz, “The propagation of positive streamers in a weak and uniform background electric field,” J. Phys. D. Appl. Phys., vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 614623, 2001. 4 H. Nishida, T. Nonomura, and T. Abe, “Characterization of Electrohydrodynamic Force on Dielectric-Barrier-Discharge Plasma Actuator Using Fluid Simulation,” World Acad. Sci. Eng. Technol., vol. 71, no. November, pp. 321–325, 2012. 5 N. Benard, A. Debien, and E. Moreau, “Time-dependent volume force produced by a nonthermal plasma actuator from experimental velocity field,” J. Phys. D. Appl. Phys., vol. 46, no. 24, p. 245201, 2013. 6 T. Hurtig, A. Larsson, and M. Liefvendahl, “Electrohydrodynamic Flow Control - A literature Survey,” 2007. 7 J. P. Boeuf, Y. Lagmich, T. Unfer, T. Callegari, and L. C. Pitchford, “Electrohydrodynamic force in dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators,” J. Phys. D. Appl. Phys., vol. 40, no. 8 C. L. Enloe, R. S. Mangina, and G. I. Font, “Normalized Electronegative Species Effects in the Dielectric-Barrier-Discharge Plasma Actuator,” AIAA J., vol. 54, no. 7, pp. 1–8, 2016. 9 J. P. Boeuf, Y. Lagmich, and L. C. Pitchford, “Contribution of positive and negative ions to the electrohydrodynamic force in a dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator operating in air,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 106, p. 23115, 2009. 10 R. Schiffman, Handbook of Industrial Drying, 3rd ed. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis Group, 2007. 11 B. Eliasson and U. Kogelschatz, “N2O Formation in Ozonizers,” J. Chim. Phys. physico-chimie Biol., vol. 83, no. 4, pp. 279–282, 1986. 12 I. Plante, “Energetic and chemical reactivity of atomic and molecular oxygen,” 2010. 13 J. T. Herron and D. S. Green, “Chemical kinetics database and predictive schemes for nonthermal humid air plasma chemistry. Part II. Neutral species reactions,” Plasma Chem. Plasma Process., vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 459–481, 2001. 14 A. Fridman and L. A. Kennedy, Plasma Physics and Engineering. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2004.

Conference: CAMX 2025

Publication Date: 2025/09/08

SKU: 196

Pages: 15

Price: $30.00