Boeing and West Midlands-based ELG Carbon Fibre (www.elgcf.com) have formed a partnership to recycle excess aerospace-grade composite material, which will be re-used by other companies to make products such as electronic accessories and automotive equipment.

The agreement — the first of its kind for the aerospace industry — covers excess carbon fibre from 11 Boeing manufacturing sites.

Carbon-fibre-reinforced material is extremely strong and lightweight, making it attractive for a variety of uses, including building the super-efficient 787 Dreamliner and the all-new 777X airplane.

As the largest user of aerospace-grade composites from its commercial and defence programmes, Boeing has been working for several years to create an economically viable carbon fibre re-use industry.

The company improved its production methods to minimise excess and developed a model for collecting scrap material.

But technical barriers stood in the way of repurposing material that had already been ‘cured’ or prepped for use in the aircraft-manufacturing process.

ELG has developed a proprietary method to recycle ‘cured’ composites, so they do not have to be thrown out.

Tia Benson Tolle, Boeing Materials & Fabrication director for product strategy and future airplane development (www.boeing.com), said: “Recycling cured carbon fibre was not possible just a few years ago.

“We are excited to collaborate with ELG and leverage innovative recycling methods to work toward a vision where no composite scrap will be sent to landfills.”

To prove that the recycling method can be applied on a grand scale, Boeing and ELG conducted a pilot project to recycle excess material from Boeing’s Composite Wing Center in Everett, Washington, where the massive wings for the 777X airplane are made.

ELG put the excess material in a furnace, which vapourised the resin that holds the carbon fibre layers together and left behind clean material.

Over the course of 18 months, the companies saved 380,000 lb of carbon fibre, which was cleaned and sold to companies in the electronics and ground transportation industries.