Teijin’s Tenax, PAN earn sustainability certification

Teijin Ltd.’s Tenax^TM carbon fiber and the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursor fiber produced at Teijin’s Mishima Plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, have received ISCC PLUS certification from the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system. This is the first time that carbon fiber and PAN simultaneously earned this certification, a globally recognized standard for the recovery of waste and residues that provide feedstocks for circular plastics.

The PAN precursor fiber is made from sustainable acrylonitrile (AN) using waste and residue from biomass-derived products or recycled raw materials and produced by using the mass balance approach. With this method, materials are verifiably tracked through complex value chains, for example, when biomass-derived raw materials are mixed with petroleum-derived raw materials to create products.

Because the sustainable AN has the same physical properties as petroleum-derived AN, PAN and Tenax carbon fiber based on this material deliver the same physical properties as equivalent fossil-based products. This similarity allows customers to easily replace Tenax carbon fiber with more-sustainable alternatives that can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the product life cycle.

Teijin expects to begin commercial production of PAN and Tenax using the mass balance approach method at the Mishima plant by H1 2024. Also, the company will pursue ISCC PLUS certification for its carbon fiber and related products produced in Europe, the United States, and Asia to expand availability of its sustainable products.

Strong, lightweight carbon fiber can help reduce energy consumption in applications including aerospace. In response to the need to reduce GHG emissions throughout supply chains in support of carbon neutrality, Teijin switched the fuel for in-house power generation equipment at manufacturing sites to natural gas and adopted lifecycle assessment (LCA) to calculate the environmental footprint of its carbon fiber and intermediate materials.