UBC researchers turn black bitumen into “green” carbon fibers

Abstract

Bitumen, the sticky product from Alberta's oil sands, is normally burned as fuel or gets a second life as asphalt pavement. But what if it could be turned into something more valuable, like the carbon fibers that make aircraft and hockey sticks light and durable, and electric cars safer and more efficient? On June 13, UBC reports that UBC materials engineer Dr. Yasmine Abdin and her colleagues, Dr. Frank Ko in the faculty of applied science and Dr. Scott Renneckar in the faculty of forestry, have developed a way to convert bitumen into commercial-grade carbon fibers.