Italy's Leonardo, Hera to join forces for carbon fiber recycling

Hera SpA

07/11/2023 11:04

ROME, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Italy's Leonardo  LDOF.MI  and
Hera  HRA.MI  will collaborate to find ways to recover carbon
fiber contained in the composite materials used in constructing
aircraft, the aerospace group and the regional utility said on
Tuesday.
    The deal has strategic value given Europe has almost no
virgin carbon fiber production. Developing supply chains to
generate "valuable resources locally will help support the
process of industrial self-sufficiency," the joint statement
said.
    The two groups will use a plant Hera is building in the
central Emilia-Romagna regional and methods developed in
Leonardo's laboratories to recycle the material, as a first step
towards full-scale industrial activities to recover carbon fiber
in the aerospace sector.
    Leonardo's aerospace division will supply the Hera unit
Herambiente with fiber waste from manufacturing aircraft
components such as stabilisers, fuselage and plane tails.
    Herambiente will use pyro-gasification – a procedure that
involves heating waste to a high temperature to produce biogas –
to generate fiber that can be used as new. 

 (Reporting by Giulia Segreti, editing by Barbara Lewis)
 ((cristina.carlevaro@thomsonreuters.com; +39 06 80307729;))