UAM recycles carbon fiber from commercial aircraft

Memphis, Tennessee-based Universal Asset Management (UAM) has used recycled carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) from commercial aircraft to 3D-print an engine stand. CFRP collected through UAM’s proprietary process, filtered for purity and refined into pellets, was used as raw material for 3D-printing to demonstrate that second-generation carbon fiber material is suitable for additive manufacturing.

Of all the structural elements comprising an aircraft, carbon fiber is the most arduous to recycle. Efforts during the past 15 years have not yielded a viable solution that completes the circular economy of carbon fiber back into manufacturing.

CFRP use is on the rise, as today’s modern aircraft are now made of approximately 50% composite material. The increasing availability of composites in younger retiring aircraft is an opportunity that can be leveraged with techniques under development by UAM’s Innovation Technology Team.

UAM CEO Keri Wright says, “As a world’s first, this achievement extends beyond aviation. UAM is the only company to harvest CFRP from end-of-life aircraft to be re-introduced to manufacturing. UAM, along with its parent company Aircraft Recycling International Ltd. (ARI), remains committed as the global leader in complete aircraft recycling solutions.”

UAM has disassembled more than 300 aircraft including all Boeing platforms and Airbus A300, A310, A320, A330, and A340 aircraft. The UAM aircraft disassembly center is at the Tupelo Regional Airport in Tupelo, Mississippi, and its Global Distribution Center is in Verona, Mississippi.