Yacht carbon to get recycled
A new partnership between IMOCA team 11th Hour Racing and carbon recovery specialists Gen 2 Carbon aims to recover up to 10 tons of carbon waste from the sailing community in Brittany, France, and process it into recycled carbon fibre.
Gen 2 Carbon runs the world’s first and largest carbon fibre recovery plant, in the UK'S West Midlands. Among the products it produces is G-TEX recycled carbon mat, which can be used in boatbuilding and was used in the construction of 11th Hour Racing Team’s latest IMOCA Mãlama, laid with flax-based ‘Powerribs’ for strength.
The carbon fibre waste is processed through a pyrolysis oven which burns off resins and other contamination. After an oxidation process the end product is clean carbon fibres, which may be laid in a carding machine to produce non-woven matting in a range of sizes and weights. The Gen 2 plant also recovers energy generated during the process to provide power to operate the furnace.
“The carbon footprint of an IMOCA boat build has increased by nearly two thirds in just 10 years and it is vitally important that we work to reduce this impact. One of these ways is to close the loop on our carbon fibre waste,” commented Damian Foxall, sustainability program manager at 11th Hour Racing Team.
The increasing prevalence of foils – which are frequently redesigned and rebuilt during a boat’s optimisation process – is one source of carbon waste. 11th Hour Racing also worked with the University of Bristol to recycle parts of a damaged foil into carbon tape.
The sports sector is now the world’s third biggest consumer of carbon fibre, behind aerospace and industrial usages.