Japan's Toray develops porous carbon fibers with nanoscale continuous pore structure

Release time:

2020-01-03

Japanese textile manufacturer Toray Industries, Inc. has announced the development of the world's first porous carbon fiber with a nano-scale continuous pore structure. Using this fiber as a support layer can reduce the weight of the advanced membrane and make it more compact, thereby improving performance (note: advanced membranes can be used for separation of greenhouse gases and hydrogen production). Toray will continue to promote the development of this new material to promote the carbon cycle, and will cooperate with other companies to develop applications that can continue to develop hydrogen energy.

According to Toray, some traditional gas absorption facilities separate and absorb carbon dioxide, biogas, hydrogen and other gases, which makes these facilities take up a lot of space and consume too much energy, resulting in the emission of large amounts of carbon dioxide. Thus, a method of separating a gas using a membrane has attracted wide attention in the industry, but a membrane having both good gas separation performance and durability has not yet been developed.

The porous carbon fiber developed by Toray is thin and soft. At the same time, due to its carbon structure, the fiber has chemical stability and excellent air permeability. Therefore, if such a fiber is used as a supporting material for a gas film, the gas film can be kept compact and light even if a plurality of layers are stacked.

Toray hopes to contribute to the commercial development of advanced membranes for gas separation. Advanced membranes using newly developed porous carbon fibers are essential for environmentally friendly natural gas, biogas purification, and hydrogen production. When developing porous carbon fiber, Toray combined its unique polymer technology with carbon fiber technology, water treatment technology and separation membrane technology, which are already in the leading position in the industry.

Toray's existing polymer technology makes it possible to create porous carbon fibers with uniform and continuous pores and carbon. Therefore, two methods can be taken to create porous carbon fibers with nano-scale continuous pore structure: one is to adjust the size of the porous structure from micron to nano-scale; The second is to form a hollow fiber-like porous carbon fiber in the center of the fiber. It is expected that the new porous carbon fiber will be used in electrode materials and catalyst supports (basic substances for fixing other substances) in high-performance batteries.

In December this year, Toray will open the "Future R & D Innovation Center", which will become the group's global innovation headquarters through cooperation with academic institutions and multiple partners from different industries. In the future, Toray will seek multi-party cooperation with a view to commercializing advanced membranes for gas separation. Toray hopes to continue to work on developing technologies that will help solve environmental, resource and energy problems in order to achieve a low-carbon economy by 2050.

About Toray

Toray (TORAY) Co., Ltd. was founded in 1926, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Toray Group is a world-renowned high-tech multinational company with organic synthesis, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry as its core technologies. It has 200 affiliated and related companies in 19 countries and regions around the world. The 2019 fiscal year ended March 31, 2019 Sales exceeded US $21.5 billion.

Toray (China) Investment Co., Ltd. is an important base for Toray Group to develop its globalization strategy in China. Toray Group's total investment in China has reached 2.57 billion US dollars, with more than 10 enterprises and a total of about 105000 employees. In addition to the basic fiber and plastic industries, the business field also integrates the business functions of new business departments such as water treatment, composite materials, and electronic information materials.

(Source: Journal of Textile Technology）

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