Cost-efficient production of high-quality carbon fibres by floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition method

Carbon fibre (CF) is envisioned to be the key construction and engineering material of nextgeneration technology due to its unique high tensile strength in contrast to its extremely lightweight. However, the potential to capture large global market in near future is obstructed by high manufacturing cost of high-quality CF. Alberta oil sand asphaltenes is a carbon-rich (∼90%) aromatic hydrocarbon is a vital raw material in reducing the manufacturing cost of CF if the fabrication process is designed judiciously. A single-step continuous process using floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FC-CVD) method can be used to further reduce the manufacturing cost substantially.