Pitch-based carbon fiber production continues to increase, but industry development still faces challenges

Pitch-based carbon fiber refers to carbon fiber products that use pitch as raw material and are prepared through raw material processing, modulation, polymerization, catalysis and other processes. According to different properties, pitch-based carbon fiber can be divided into two types: high-performance pitch carbon fiber and general-purpose pitch carbon fiber. Unlike polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fiber, pitch-based carbon fiber has the advantages of sufficient raw materials, high thermal conductivity, and excellent impact resistance, and is widely used in the aerospace field.

Pitch-based carbon fiber raw materials include residual oil, pure aromatic compounds, coal coking products, petroleum pitch, coal pitch, etc. The above materials account for nearly 80% of the production cost. Petroleum asphalt is the main raw material for the production of pitch-based carbon fiber. In recent years, due to factors such as shrinking demand, production has shown a gradual downward trend. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, my country’s cumulative petroleum asphalt production in 2021 will be 55.517 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 11.5%. Since the production scale of my country’s pitch-based carbon fiber industry is small, the output of petroleum pitch can fully meet the production needs of pitch-based carbon fiber. According to the “2022-2027 China Pitch-based Carbon Fiber Industry Application Market Demand and Development Opportunities Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center, In 2021, my country’s pitch-based carbon fiber output has exceeded 400.0 tons.

In terms of application fields, the aerospace field is the largest demand end for pitch-based carbon fiber. Because pitch-based carbon fiber has the properties of high temperature resistance, ablation resistance, impact resistance, and high modulus, it is not easily deformed by the impact of airflow and force. It is often used to manufacture thermal protection, tail fins, fuselage structures and other parts of aerospace vehicles. As a national strategic industry, the scale of my country’s aerospace market has continued to expand in recent years. In 2021, the scale of my country’s aerospace market reached 912.65 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.6%. Driven by market demand, my country’s pitch-based carbon fiber industry will gain broad development space.

As a high-performance pitch carbon fiber, mesophase pitch-based carbon fiber has the advantages of ultra-high thermal conductivity, ultra-high electrical conductivity, and ultra-high modulus. It has become a key material for the manufacturing of industrial robots, communication equipment, wind power generation, and high-end aerospace equipment. Mesophase pitch-based carbon fiber refers to a liquid crystalline substance with a carbon content of more than 90.0%. Its preparation process includes polycondensation, spinning, drafting, etc. At present, my country’s mesophase pitch-based carbon fiber production technology is not yet mature, and there is still a certain gap compared with developed countries such as Japan and the United States. This is the main reason that hinders the development of the industry.

Industry analysts said that as production technology continues to break through and innovate, pitch-based carbon fiber, as an important material for aerospace equipment manufacturing, will have a bright future in the market. The potential is huge. Benefiting from the abundant sources and sufficient supply of raw materials, my country’s pitch-based carbon fiber production has shown a gradual upward trend. Driven by downstream market demand, the industry’s development trend continues to improve. At present, mesophase pitch-based carbon fiber has received widespread attention as a segmented product of pitch-based carbon fiber, but high technical barriers still pose a major challenge to the development of the industry.