Zoltek Receives DOE Award for Low-Cost Carbon Fiber Development

Zoltek Companies, Inc. was notified on August 10 by the U.S. Department of Energy / National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE / NETL) that it has been selected for negotiations leading to a $3.7 million financial assistance award for its application titled “Development and Commercialization of a Novel Low Cost Carbon Fiber”. This notification was part of a larger announcement by DOE Secretary Dr. Steven Chu regarding awards of more than $175 million for Advanced Vehicle Research and Development.

Mr. George Husman, Chief Technology Officer at Zoltek, stated, “This is an exciting program for Zoltek and very important for the future of carbon fiber, especially for automotive applications. Weyerhaeuser Company is our joint development partner in this project. Zoltek has been working with Weyerhaeuser for a year and a half developing a novel low cost route to carbon fiber using a lignin / PAN hybrid precursor. Combining this unique precursor technology with improvements in operating and energy efficiencies for carbon conversion will provide lower cost carbon fiber for automotive and other applications.”