(56b) Biocarbon Applications- Current Status and Future Directions

Biobased composites for lighter auto-part applications are the wave of the transportation industries. The corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard requires 54.5 mpg fleet average by the year 2025. Carbonaneous and lighter biocomposites are being researched and the resulting new innovations show their potential applications in injection moulded parts for car uses. Around 20 wt.% weight saving is achieved for such newly engineered biocomposites as contrast to talc filled counterparts. Carbon black, a petro-based colorant and filler is being used predominantly in plastics and rubber-based industries that accounts to around $ 20 billion market value globally. A more eco-friendly alternative, named as bio-carbon (from pyrolyzed biomass) is attracting recent attention as a filler/reinforcement in automotive and other plastic/rubber-based industries. Although a low content of ~2-4% of carbon black is used as colorant in many plastic-based products, bio-carbon with appropriate modification can be incorporated comparatively at a considerable higher percent (even 30 to 40 wt. %) in specific plastic based composite materials. Such biobased composites show promising potential as possible substitute for talc/short glass fibre reinforced polymer composites.

Acknowledgements: This research is financially supported by (1) the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA)-University of Guelph Research Program(Project # 030055, 200399 ); (2) the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada, Discovery Grants (Project # 401111); (3) Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Competitive Green Technologies (Project #051910, 052881) and (4) the Ontario Research Fund, Research Excellence Program; Round-7 (ORF-RE07) from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI), currently known as the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science (MRIS) (Project # 052644 and # 052665).