Mitsubishi Chemical acquires European carbon fiber recycling company

Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials announced the acquisition of two German carbon fiber recycling companies and is expected to complete the acquisition around early August.

This strategic merger is based on the company's circular economy strategy as opposed to the traditional linear economy.

According to the Mitsubishi Chemical Holding Group's medium and long-term basic management strategy "KAITEKI Vision 30", Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation regards circular economy as a key element to realize the "KAITEKI Vision", and the company's product recycling is an important part of this strategy.

CFK has its own carbon fiber collection network, which mainly collects residual materials from the molding process of intermediate materials (carbon fiber prepregs, etc.) from customers in the transportation industry, and uses its advanced proprietary technology to reproduce these materials into usable carbon fibers . CarboNXT will help sell these products recycled by CFK.

Mitsubishi Chemical also acquired carbon fiber prepreg producer c-m-p GmbH and engineering plastics recycling company Minger Group.

It is understood that c-m-p has proprietary production technology for unidirectional fabrics/prepregs, and provides solutions for multiple end applications including aerospace and automobiles. After the completion of the acquisition, Mitsubishi Chemical will have its own prepreg plants in Europe, the United States, and Japan. The newly acquired c-m-p company will work with the newly established SMC molding compound plant in Modena, Italy, to help Mitsubishi Chemical expand its carbon fiber composite material production capacity in Europe in order to take the lead in the future mobile transportation field.

Through a series of recent acquisitions, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation will build a complete chain in Europe from carbon fiber and carbon fiber composite material manufacturing to product collection and recycling. The company has previously established a similar chain in Japan. In the future, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation will use recycled products as raw materials for production throughout the group, providing customers with overall solutions including product recycling.