Commercial-grade carbon fiber manufacturer Zoltek Inc. (St. Louis, Mo.) reported on Oct. 15, 2008, the successful start-up of acrylic precursor and carbon fiber manufacturing operations at its Zoltek de Mexico facility. Formerly a textile acrylic plant that has been idle since early 2006, the facility was purchased by Zoltek and retrofitted to produce acrylic precursor and outfitted with four continuous carbonization lines. Zoltek estimates that the Mexican facility ultimately could produce 60,000 metric tonnes (132 million lb) of precursor material per year, which, in turn, would support production of more than 27,000 metric tonnes (59.5 million lb) of carbon fiber.

“The Mexico plant now enables us to meet anticipated major increases in demand in wind energy and other large emerging commercial applications,” says Zoltek chief Zsolt Rumy. “We have substantially increased our capacity to produce low-cost carbon fibers on a timely and cost-effective basis. Our testing confirms that the properties of the fibers produced at this new plant equal or exceed those we make at our Hungarian facility. We are achieving significantly improved properties, quality and throughput in our process as a result of the improvements achieved in the precursor production.”

According to Rumy, supply agreements with two leading wind turbine manufacturers had stretched Zoltek’s capacity, damping interest from potential new customers who were concerned about reliability of supply and price stability. The expansion, says Rumy, provides the necessary corrective: “We are confident that this will facilitate a new round of growth from a range of existing and emerging applications because of the unique performance of carbon fiber composites.”

Zoltek also reported record sales and expects to record revenues of approximately $51 million (USD) and $186 million, respectively, for the fourth quarter and full year, for its fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2008, representing increases of 17 percent and 23 percent compared to the same periods in 2007. The company remains optimistic in its outlook for fiscal 2009 and beyond, projecting $500 million of sales by fiscal 2011, based in part on its belief that, at some point, all major wind turbine manufacturers will require carbon fibers. The company also announced it has entered into a supplier agreement with French pultruder Epsilon Composite (Gaillan-en-Médoc, France) and Aker Solutions ASA (formerly Aker Kvaerner, Lysaker, Norway) to support a major umbilical demonstration project under the direction of Petrobras Americas Inc., the Brazilian oil producer. The project, in the Cascade and Chinook fields in the Gulf of Mexico, is designed to prove the deepwater capability of carbon fiber rods that reinforce the umbilical cable. The company also is actively pursuing secondary aerospace structures, such as floors, luggage bins and seats, as well as the automotive market.