UBC’s Bitumen-Based Carbon Fibre Initiative Progresses Towards Commercialization

WPB: The University of British Columbia (UBC) has advanced its innovative project to create carbon fibres from bitumen, securing $2.6 million from Alberta Innovates and $1.4 million from Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) to finalize its development and prepare for commercialization.

Emissions Reduction Alberta praised this technology as a cost-effective way to produce high-performance carbon fibres for clean technologies while also minimizing the environmental impact of carbon fibre manufacturing.

Potential applications of these carbon fibres include electromagnetic shielding for battery enclosures, conductive filaments for anodes, 3D-printed carbon fibre-reinforced parts, and stronger multifilament yarns suitable for structural composites.

Yasmine Abdin, the project leader and an assistant professor in materials engineering, explained that her team originally entered Alberta Innovates’ Carbon Fibre Grand Challenge to explore non-combustion applications for bitumen, redirecting its use toward advanced manufacturing.

One of her key collaborators is Scott Renneckar, a UBC professor specializing in wood science and advanced renewable materials.

Abdin highlighted that bitumen’s heavy asphaltene content has traditionally posed challenges for transportation, making it costly and environmentally taxing. By identifying new uses for bitumen, production and processing could potentially occur closer to mining sites.

“The oilsands industry seeks to eliminate the heaviest components of bitumen, such as asphaltenes,” Abdin noted. “During bitumen upgrading, asphaltenes are extracted, making the material lighter, more efficient as a fuel, and easier to transport. Asphaltenes are often considered a waste product or underutilized resource. Establishing infrastructure for carbon fibre production could offer significant opportunities for oilsands producers near their operations.”

Abdin’s team has developed two distinct types of carbon fibres:

 1. Melt-Spun Carbon Fibre: This fibre, made through a patented melt-spinning process, is designed for structural applications.

 2. Electrospun Carbon Fibre: Produced at a nanoscale using electrospinning, this sub-micron fibre offers structural capabilities, energy storage potential, and applications for sensors in supercapacitors.

Abdin suggested that the electrospun fibre would be ideal for use in electric vehicles, supercapacitors, or structures combining load-bearing and energy storage functions.

According to Abdin, no comparable products made from bitumen-based feedstock currently exist in the market.

The project successfully completed all three phases of the Alberta Innovates challenge. In the first phase, the team proved that fibres could be spun from asphaltenes. The second phase focused on achieving consistent production with specific properties. Finally, phase three aimed at scaling the technology for commercialization.

Now, the team is working on benchmarking the fibres’ quality at larger, pre-commercial scales.

“Our goal is to introduce these fibres into high-volume manufacturing sectors like the automotive industry,” Abdin said. “Automotive applications vary widely, so we’re developing technologies for different uses while striving to keep our fibres competitively priced.”

The initiative is also backed by UBC’s Lab2Launch entrepreneurship program, which supports ventures as they transition from research to market-ready solutions.

“We are collaborating with industry partners and end-users to develop prototypes and advance the technology further,” Abdin shared. These collaborations involve automotive and pipeline manufacturers exploring applications such as battery tray components and pipeline materials.

By Bitumenmag

Bitumen, Innovation, Asphalt, Fiber