The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been awarded a $34.7 million award from DOE's Vehicle Technologies Program as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to design, construct, and operate a Carbon Fiber Technology Facility. The facility is currently under construction, and is scheduled to begin operations by Fall, 2012.

Features of the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility include:

• Highly instrumented, highly flexible conventional carbon fiber line for "any precursor in any format", supplied by Harper International
• Melt-spun fiber line to produce precursor fibers, supplied by Hills, Inc.
• Provisions for additional future equipment
• Technology validation at semi-production scale gives industry the confidence to deploy at full scale
• Melt spun precursor fiber line
• "Conventional" carbon fiber line with unmatched felxibility
• Future — advanced technology carbon fiber line

Photo of Facility and Equipment Perspective
• Validate alternative conversion processes with conventional precursors
• Validate advanced conversion processes with conventional precursors
• Validate combination of alternative precursors and advanced conversion processes
• Produce up to 25 tonnes/year of carbon fibers
• Demonstrate technology scalability
• Train and educate workers
• Grow partnerships with US industry

For more information about the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility, please contact:

Lee McGetrick
Director, CFTF
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
P.O. Box 2008
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6251
865-574-6549
mcgetricklb@ornl.gov