CARBON FIBER PRODUCTION FROM LIGNIN: A PRECURSOR OF FUTURE

Carbon fibers have recently attracted tremendous attention, and many industries have adopted them. However, high manufacturing costs and complex processes still limit their widespread use in large-scale applications. The cost of current precursors, namely PAN and Pitch, alone accounts for more than half of the total cost of carbon fiber manufacturing. Therefore, a new, cost-efficient, renewable, and abundantly available precursor should be investigated to overcome these challenges. Lignin serves all these purposes and is a promising substitute for convectional precursors. It can be processed using melt spinning, solution spinning, or electrospinning. This paper reviews the published research on lignin structure, the production of lignin precursor fibers, their conversion into carbon fibers, and future directions.