Business Climate: How B.C. researchers are turning oil sands waste into green carbon fibres

When Yasmine Abdin walked into the lab, she could barely believe what she saw. An assistant professor of materials engineering at UBC, Abdin had been working with a group of students on transforming bitumen—a byproduct of the oil industry—into usable carbon fibres. They had found a way to turn the black powder, known as asphaltene, into fibres, but they hadn’t managed to produce a large quantity.

Normally the lab was buzzing with people, but on that day last summer, it was empty—but what the team left behind could be a game-changer for everything from the auto industry to aviation.

“I went to the lab midday expecting everyone to be at work, but they were gone. Then I saw a whole wheel of fibres. Kilograms of fibres.  They made it a surprise,” recalls Abdin, who says she has always had a passion for materials. “When they came back I said, ‘Congratulations. That’s amazing.’”

That memorable milestone has been one of many as Abdin and her team navigate the Carbon Fibre Grand Challenge, a $26-million, three-phase competition from Alberta Innovates that’s aimed at transforming bitumen into carbon fibres that could be used in manufactured goods.

They were selected for phase one, which involved demonstrating that they could make fibres from bitumen; in phase two they worked on improving the fibres; now, in phase three—which came with $4 million in funding—they’re going commercial and scaling up, and have launched their startup, Fibernx Technologies.

Now, what started as a promising idea could soon be found in goods from hockey sticks to airplanes, and from health-care equipment to wind turbines. The carbon fibres could also be used in electric car chassis, which would reduce weight and help batteries stay cool, improving safety and range—all while breathing new life into a raw material that has little market value.

To make the fibres, the UBC team uses a process called melt spinning, which doesn’t involve harmful solvents and is less energy-intensive than the process behind traditional carbon fibres. And because the raw materials are a byproduct of the oil industry, the cost of the new fibres is less than half that of their predecessors, making them a viable option for large-scale industries. They’re also far more sustainable.

“Refineries have to get rid of the heavy cuts of bitumen to be able to transport it—and because this specific piece of the bitumen is lower value for them as fuel, they need to get rid of it,” says Abdin. Her team begins by spinning fibres into what are known as green fibres, then heat treats them at high temperatures into carbon fibre. “So the feedstock and the spinning process is what’s really different from the existing fibre today,” she explains.

But the applications for the team’s innovative carbon fibres aren’t limited to manufacturing goods: they’re also capable of storing energy. That means nanofibres can be used as electrodes in batteries, supercapacitors and other electrical equipment—a feature that caught the attention of Alberta Innovates.

The organization, which manages nearly 1,300 projects within its $1.33-billion portfolio, was looking for carbon fibres that are strong and highly malleable, or highly conductive—but Abdin’s lab was different.

“[Abdin’s] group is very interesting because it has the potential for both applications,” says Michael Kerr, executive director of advanced hydrocarbons at Alberta Innovates. He adds that UBC’s carbon fibres also have a smaller environmental footprint than metals such as vanadium and lithium—and with a million barrels of bitumen produced per day, there’s no shortage  of feedstock.

The UBC team is also further along when it comes to producing volume, says Kerr, which is essential for the material to have broad appeal. “The manufacturers that are interested in these products, like the automobile sector, need large volume, and they need to know they can generate enough volume to make a car door in less than three days,” he says with a laugh. “That’s where we’re at: can you do it fast enough within the confines of the demand of the marketplace?”

Of course the project hasn’t been without its challenges. Abdin says that, even though the bitumen is a waste product, because the team is at an early stage, the supply has been challenging. On the technical side, impurities and variability in the consistency of the raw material have also been issues, but the team has managed to work out most of the kinks.

Now they are working with end users in the automotive, sporting goods and energy  sectors to develop prototypes and test them—and Abdin says the results so far have been “very promising.” On the nanofibre side, nothing like Fibernx’s product exists on the market, so if they succeed, they will be industry pioneers.

Abdin and her team are working closely with investors and applying for funds to gather the capital needed to start a pilot plant, and hope to begin production within the next two years. Fibernx was also named among the top 10 finalists in the 2024 New Ventures BC Competition, presented by Innovate BC.

Abdin says that, as a materials scientist, the discovery of a new material is one of her top goals—but even more exciting are the emissions reductions that come with it, whether through making EVs lighter or wind turbines more efficient.

“I would like to see this in every North American car,” says Abdin. “It’s been a goal for decades, so if we can help with that, it would be our ultimate wish.”