The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration has awarded the Port of Port Angeles a US$2 million grant to retrofit a building that will house industrial and workforce training facilities for the Composite Recycling Technology Center. The project will create an estimated 111 jobs. ‘Washington is already leading in carbon fiber production,’ said U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell. ‘Now we want to lead in carbon fiber recycling. Port Angeles is leading the way, and the Department of Commerce grant will help this community solve some of the recycling challenges.’
‘The commissioner and her colleagues are working on innovations in composite materials that help improve fuel efficiency, whether we’re talking about automobiles or aerospace – and that market is expected to grow to US$26 billion by next year,’ she added.
Energy savings
This grant helps to build on legislation the senator introduced in May, the Carbon Fiber Recycling Act of 2015, to study the technology and energy savings of recycling carbon fiber and to direct the Department of Energy to collaborate with the automotive and aviation industry to develop a recycled carbon fiber demonstration project. This federal grant was made possible by a US$1 million commitment from the Washington State Clean Energy Fund, combined with an additional US$1 million in local government funds for the needed dollar-for-dollar match.
This story is reprinted from material from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.