Pilatus Launches 32-Month Carbon-Fiber Waste Recycling Project

Swiss aircraft manufacturer Pilatus has announced the launch of a 32-month research project to recycle carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic waste that is inevitably generated during the production of aircraft components. Every year, more than 6 tonnes of unused carbon-fiber fabric impregnated with synthetic resin accumulate at the company’s facilities. Together with researchers from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Pilatus intends to return this waste to the production cycle. The technology works as follows: sticky offcuts of resin-impregnated fabric are heated until they lose their tackiness, then cut into small fragments and molded into a new part under high pressure. No comparable recycling method currently exists in aircraft manufacturing. According to Urs Thomann, Pilatus’s Director of Technologies, Processes and Sustainability, success would not only eliminate tonnes of waste but also allow some aluminum parts to be replaced with carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic ones, saving up to 36 tonnes of aluminum per year. Every kilogram saved reduces an aircraft’s carbon footprint, while surveys show that environmental sustainability is becoming an increasingly important criterion when purchasing aviation equipment.