Toray launched the “Ecodream” Project in FY 2005 with the target of doubling FY 2005 net sales of environmentally friendly products by FY 2010. In keeping with the project's key themes of saving energy and lowering GHG emissions, we are focusing our efforts on carbon fiber composite materials and products derived from non-petrochemical raw materials.
On one hand, increasing net sales of environmentally friendly products (i.e., increasing production volumes) has the effect of driving up our emissions of GHG. The production of carbon fiber, a light, strong, and corrosion-resistant material, involves considerable energy use and GHG emissions due to high temperatures required in the manufacturing process. However, the material's significant contribution to more lightweight aircraft and automobile designs, which ultimately help to conserve energy and lower CO2 emissions will offset the increase in the environmental impact caused by the manufacturing process.
Toray is aware of these tradeoffs. We are committed to helping reduce emissions throughout the lifecycle of carbon fiber end products such as aircraft and automobiles while meeting our own goals for lowering GHG emissions during the manufacturing process.
*2 Glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP): A molded material reinforced with glass fibers.
Demand for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP)*1 is growing in the aviation industry, where fuel economy and environmental countermeasures are increasingly seen as important considerations. Lightweight designs are expected to yield benefits in the form of improved fuel economy and reduced CO2 emissions.
*1 Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP): A composite material that is cured and molded after impregnating carbon fibers with plastics resin. Exceptionally strong, CFRP characteristically allows designs that weigh less while offering the same strength and rigidity as metals such as steel and aluminum.
The use of CFRP can lower the weight of the mild steel sheets used in automobiles by 50%, yet this highly safe material can absorb 1.5 times more energy than steel. Use of CFRP is expected to expand in the automotive field in coming years.
Simulations by the Ultra Light Steel Auto Body, Ultra Light Steel Auto Closures, and Ultra Light Steel Auto Suspension Project indicate that widespread adoption of lighter-weight cars using CFRP would reduce annual CO2 emissions by 3.88 million tons by 2030. Conversely, a reduction of approximately 3 tons of CO2 could be expected per vehicle over the course of 10 years. In other words, CFRP automobiles also have an environmental contribution to make from the standpoint of CO2 balance.
Source: “Innovative Global Warming Technological Program,” Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (FY 2003 to 2007)
| Total vehicles | Energy savings | CO2 emissions reductions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gasoline equivalent | Crude equivalent | |||
| 2010 | 200,000 | 22,000 kl/year | 20,000 kl/year | 51,000 tons-CO2/year |
| 2020 | 2,600,000 | 690,000 kl/year | 630,000 kl/year | 1,590,000 tons-CO2/year |
| 2030 | 6,300,000 | 1,680,000 kl/year | 1,530,000 kl/year | 3,880,000 tons-CO2/year |
Source: “R&D of Carbon Fiber-reinforced Composite Materials to Reduce Automobile Weight” project under NEDO's New Global Warming Prevention Technology Program. (Assumptions: 10 year vehicle useful life; 2.5 km/l improvement in fuel economy per 200 kg reduction in weight; total of 6,300,000 vehicles in use by 2030; technology used in luxury and high-end mid-market vehicles)
