Overview of LCI data for carbon fiber
October 2022
The Japan Carbon Fiber Manufacturers Association1

- Table of Contents 1. Methods and purpose
2. Abbreviation
3. Data quality
3-1 Foreground data
3-2 Background data
4. System boundary
4-1 Manufacturing process for PAN-based CFs
4-2 System boundary and survey scope (computational scope)
5. About data
5-1 Data item
5-2 Assumptions for data collection(1) Input raw materials(2) Produced products(3) Energy consumption(4) Environmental impact data
5-3 Assumptions for processing (calculation) of collected data
(1) Scope of calculation(2) Calculation of electricity(3) Calculation of steam(4) Handling of NA responses(5) Allocation(6) Calculation of nitrogen and air(7) Raw materials and sub-materials using substitute data, and items
excluded from calculation
5-4 Source of data used
5-5 Inventory data submitted

2

1. Methods and purpose
The analyses were performed according to ISO14040 and ISO14044. The ISO14044
shows four steps, i.e., "the goal and scope definition", "the inventory analysis", "theimpact assessment", and "the interpretation", but since the main objective of this survey
is to conduct an inventory analysis of carbon fiber, "the impact assessment" and "theinterpretation" were not conducted. However, the results of the inventory analysis itself
are described in the section describing the results, and include some interpretation of
the inventory analysis results. The survey was conducted under contract with Industry
Information Collaboration Research Center (WIC), which has conducted numerous
inventory analyses for the materials industry.
1-1 Reason for this survey
Since The Japan Carbon Fiber Manufacturers Association (JCMA) constructed its first LCI
model of PAN-based CF in the fiscal year 1997 (the first survey), it has carried out
several updates of LCI data as fixed point observation in fiscal years 2004, 2006, and2012. During this period, data updating based on actual production data has been
carried out since fiscal year 2006. This analysis is an update of the data of fiscal year
2012.
The purpose is to construct data based on the most recent production results as far as
possible, to prepare information as LCI data for the product concerned, and at the sametime to extract the improved points of the methods and reports and reflect at the timeof next renewal.
1-2 Intended use
In addition to providing basic data to identify the environmental position of the productas a producer, the data will be disclosed and used to improve the technology of theindividual companies, and at the same time, the latest information on the environmentof the product will be widely disseminated.
1-3 Target of this report
This report is intended for the people involved in the production of the product, Japaneseand foreign consumers of the product, researchers at universities and public research
institutions, and anyone else interested in the environmental characteristics of the
product.
1-4 Presence or absence of comparative claims
No comparative claims are made.

3

2. Abbreviation
In this report, the following abbreviations are used for chemical substances or
manufacturing processes:

Table 1 Abbreviations used in the report.
Substance name or manufacturing process name

Abbreviation

Acrylonitrile

AN

Polyacrylonitrile

PAN

Precursor

PC

Carbon fiber

CF

Propylene oxide

PO

Propylene glycol

PG

Epoxy

EP

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) manufacturing process

Polymerization process

Precursor (PC) manufacturing process

Spinning process

Carbon fiber (CF) manufacturing process including theoxidation process for flame-proofing

Carbonization process

3. Data quality
The information on the data quality was divided into the foreground data and thebackground data in the following.
3-1 Foreground data
(1) Time-related coverage
Data based on the actual production data for 12 months of 2017 (fiscal or calendar
year) were collected.
(2) Geographical coverage
The data is production data of plants located in Japan.
(3) Technology coverage
This report covers "high-strength fibers with elastic modulus of 230-250 GPa andfilament counts of 12k (800 tex) to 24k (1600 tex)," which constitute the main
production varieties of PAN-based CFs. In addition, the responses covered those
produced on high-productivity core line facilities that are expected to be the mainstay
in the future, considering the most recent level of the technology.

4In the past, the main markets for CF were aerospace equipment and military-related
products, but it is expected that the market for CF will be developed in the automotive,
energy, and general industrial fields in the future. Therefore, it is expected that thecapacity of unit production line will expand, and it will be necessary to estimate model
data based on the effect of scale and to update the data based on actual results in the
future.
(4) Precision
Utility data such as electricity, steam, fuel, and water are reported based on actual
production results that are collected and managed during normal operation, and theaccuracy of the production process data is judged to be high.
The data for the indirect sector, which covers environmental countermeasure equipment
and shared facilities such as offices, is based on the amount that should be borne by
the production facilities of the subject product, and thus contains elements of slightly
lower accuracy compared to the production process data. However, in order to avoid
differences in the assumptions of the data to be answered by different companies, WIC
and the companies disclosing data carefully exchanged opinions on the production
process, definition of data to be collected, the concept of allocation, etc. before receiving
data disclosure. Therefore, it is judged that a high level of data accuracy was also
ensured in the indirect sector.
(5) Completeness and representativeness
Although the production volume of the analyzed products does not represent the total
production volume of PAN-based CF worldwide, the products considered here form alarge part of the CF products and are supplied to major markets of CF, such as aerospaceequipment and automotive applications. The data is collected from all the manufacturersof these products based on the same assumption, and it can be said to cover practicallythe entire production volume of products supplied to the main markets.
In this survey, all processes of CF production were divided into PAN, PC, CF to collectdata on each production result basis, and data on annual 6,994 tons were obtained on
a PAN-based CF production basis.
Although the Japanese production volume of PAN-based CF is not disclosed in official
statistics, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Current Production
Statistics, the Japanese production volume of CF, including pitch-based CF, was 18,903
tons in fiscal year 2017. Assuming that the production volume of pitch-based fibers is
50% of its production capacity, 1,615 tons is estimated. Thus 17,288 tons of Japanese
CF are obtained by subtracting this amount from 18,903 tons, thus assumed to be theJapanese production volume of PAN-based CFs in the same year, the ratio of PAN-based5CFs aggregated in this survey corresponds to about 40% of the Japanese production
volume. The data is considered to be representative enough for the major markets forCF, such as aerospace equipment and automobiles.
Inventory data vary greatly not only with the development of new technologies and theconversion of raw materials, but also due to their properties, with operational rates andtechnological trends in upstream processes. Efforts to conserve energy are also
expected to continue in both products due to improvements in production technology
and other factors. Therefore, JCMA believes that ideally the data should be updated ona regular basis.
(6) Consistency
All Japanese manufacturers of PAN-based CF participated in this analysis, and uponreceiving data disclosure, the disclosing companies and WIC carefully discussed datacollection methods and definitions. The data processing method is basically the same asthat used to construct LCI data for petrochemical products (polyethylene, polypropylene,
polystyrene, styrene foam, vinyl chloride resin, ABS resin, polyamide, polycarbonate,
PMMA, main synthetic rubber and all of the main raw materials required for producing
these polymeric materials) for which WIC was in charge of data construction. In addition,
the coefficients applied to the retrospective calculations of electricity, steam, fuel, etc.
are also from the same data source for all companies. Therefore, it is judged that not
only the survey methods and data processing methods but also the calculation contents
are sufficiently consistent.
(7) Critical Review
External reviews were carried out with the request of three knowledgeable persons who
were familiar with LCA.

3-2 Background data
Background data cannot be uniformly described in terms of data quality because thedata source varies depending on the data applied. Therefore, we have organized thedata year and data creators (or names of references cited) in the list of data used (Table5), which is described below. The table also includes foreground data.

64. System boundary
4-1 Manufacturing process for PAN-based CFs
Figure 1 shows the manufacturing process of PAN-based CF. The manufacturing process
consists of three steps: polymerization, spinning, and carbonization, and data werecollected separately for each step. However, in some cases, it was difficult to divide thedata by manufacturer, and the decision was left to the judgment of the individualcompany disclosing the data. As a result, there was a case in which the data wasdisclosed in two parts: "polymerization process to spinning process" and "carbonization
process," and the data was compiled accordingly.

Note 1: LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) input for detoxification of flue gas is not shown here
because it is different from treatment agent.
Note 2: The environmental impact of combustion associated with the use of electricity, steam,and fuel is not shown here.

Figure 1 Manufacturing process of PAN-based CF.

4-2 System boundary and survey scope (computational scope)
Figure 2 shows the scope of the calculations for this analysis and the system boundariesof the PAN-based CF for which foreground data are collected. In the figure, thepolymerization - spinning - carbonization area is the set system boundary, and the area
enclosed by the solid red frame is the scope of the overall calculation.

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Note:

Data was collected for each process (polymerization, spinning, and carbonization), andan inventory analysis was conducted for each process. After weighting and averaging theresults of each company's inventory analysis for each of the three processes by the ratioof each production volume, LCI data for the three processes were calculated as a single
unit.

Figure 2 Computational scope of inventory data and system boundaries of PAN-basedCF.

5. About data
5-1 Data item
The items of collected data of this analysis are roughly divided into foreground data andbackground data. In the foreground data, a series of processes composed ofpolymerization process, spinning process, and carbonization process were assumed to
be CF manufacturing process, and the input and production, utility, and environmental
releasing substances were made to be the object items of data collection. Among them,items related to input, production, and utilities are shown in Table 2, and substances
released into the environment are shown in Table 3, respectively.

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Table 2

Survey items of CF manufacturing process.

Input raw materials

Produced products

Acrylonitrile (AN)PAN-based carbon fiber

Utilities
Electricity Consumption

Comonomer

Steam Consumption

Polymerization catalyst

Fuel consumption

Solvent

Utility gas (nitrogen)

PAN fiber oil (PG)

Water consumption

Carbon fiber sizing agent
Electrolyte (sulfuric acid)* Packaging film (PE)* Paper tube
* Outer packaging material
Note 1: Items marked with an asterisk (*) were excluded from the retrospective calculation. PE
film and corrugated cardboard are used for the outer packaging materials depending on
the process.
Note 2: Oxygen is used in the carbonization process, but it is taken in by air, so oxygen is notincluded in the utility items. The electricity consumed when taking in air was reported asprocess electricity consumption.

Table 3

Survey items of environmentally hazardous substances

Atmospheric emissions

Wastewater system emissions

Solid wastesoot and dust

COD

Waste plastic

SOx

BOD

Waste oil

NOxSS

Waste acid (after dehydration)

HC (hydro carbon)

Oil

Waste alkali (after dehydration)

CO (as CO)

Phenols

Sludge (organic) - dry

CO₂ (as CO₂)

Phosphorus compounds

Sludge (inorganic) - dry

CH4

Nitrogen compounds

Cinders (including fly ash)

HFC
PFC
N2O
SF6
Cl2
HCl

Among the utilities listed in Table 2, foreground data was collected for on-site power
generation and steam, and the actual results of the power plants in factories where the
CF manufacturing process of the data disclosing company in operational were taken as
the items to be investigated. Environmental countermeasure equipment was includedin the responses the participating companies provided, including energy consumption

9and environmental releases that are considered to be borne by the unit process.
Data related to utilities such as industrial water and nitrogen, public power, data related
to the production of various petroleum-based fuels, etc. (data on petroleum refining),and data related to the mining and extraction of crude oil and transportation associatedwith the import of these fuels were all considered to be background data, and they were
included in the data collection. Specifically, data on public power, petroleum refining,mining and extraction of crude oil and coal (fuels), and transportation associated with
the import of these fuels were obtained through the use of official statistics and dataprepared by the industries concerned.
Among the items described as background data in this report, utility data such as waterand nitrogen should be positioned as foreground data, and actual data of companies
disclosing data on the relevant unit processes should be collected at the same time. In
this analysis, actual data were collected for the amount used, but background data wereused for the production of these items. However, for water use, the power consumption
during pumping and transfer associated with water use was reported as process power
consumption, and as a result, actual data was collected. In this case, responses wereobtained separately for public power and on-site power generation.

5-2 Assumptions for data collection
In this section, the assumptions for the collected data of this analysis (principles at thedata collection stage, pre-arrangements in response) are described by dividing theminto (1) input raw materials, (2) produced products, (3) energy consumption, and (4)environmental impact data.

(1)

Input raw materialsi)All raw material inputs were assumed to be as is.

ii)

The amount of raw materials recovered and recycled in the system was assumed
to be the replenishment amount, based on the assumption that the recycling use isregularized and that energy, etc. associated with recovery are included in theenergy input.

iii) However, the amount of AN recovered in the polymerization process is very small
compared to the amount of AN that is converted to PAN and then to CF. The mainline is the process of converting AN to CF, and the AN from that process is actually
recovered to the best extent possible so that it is not dumped out of the system. As

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a result, AN contains a mixture of recovered and newly added amounts, andalthough the new input amount can be considered as a replenishment amount, it
has a different nuance from the usual in-system recycling.
iv) Electricity for water withdrawal, drainage, and transfer associated with the use ofwater is included in the process electricity consumption. All water for irrigation,
including rivers, lakes, seawater, groundwater (wells), and industrial water
purchased from municipalities, were included in the scope of this study. However,energy consumption and environmental impact of water conversion were calculated
for degassed water among industrial water, pure water, and boiler water purchasedfrom municipalities, but background data was used for the unit data (not calculated
in the previous case).
v)

All nitrogen is purchased nitrogen. Background data was used to calculate theamount of electricity and steam consumed in obtaining nitrogen. Background data
was also used to calculate the energy consumption and environmental emissions
associated with this power and steam consumption (both data were from thepetrochemical industry).

vi) Since all oxygen used in the carbonization process is taken from the air and theoxygen in the air is used, the power consumption associated with the air intake wastabulated and included in the calculations in this analysis. The same power
consumption was to be reported as process power consumption.

(2)i)

Produced products
As for the produced products, the quantity of CF as a final product was the targetof data collection, and the quantity of PAN and PC as intermediate raw materials
was not included.

ii)

The valuable off-grade PC and CF were separately collected as by-products, andwere included in the allocation of energy consumption and environmental impact in
the calculation of LCI data.

iii) For items such as solvents that are recovered and recycled for use in the system,
the amount of recovery was deducted from the amount of input and the amount ofreplenishment was used as the data item to be collected, assuming that this is aregular practice and that the energy and environmental impact associated withrecovery and recycling processes are included in the calculation. The energy
consumption associated with recovery was included in the energy consumed by theprocess, such as electricity, steam, and fuel.

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(3)

Energy consumption1) Electricity
i)Electricity was divided into two categories: Electricity received from the on-site
power generation plant and so-called purchased electricity (public electricity), anddata were collected separately.

ii)

Electricity consumed for intake, transfer, and post-use drainage of water used in theplant was included in the data collected as process electricity consumption.

2) Steami)

Steam is reported in terms of enthalpy. In this case, a steam table may be used toanswer the question.

ii)

The collected data is divided into steam generated at the plant in question, steam
consumed, and steam received from the power plant.

iii) The data for the consumed fuel of the steam generated and recovered in the process
is included in the consumed fuel of the process, and it is difficult to separate only
the generated steam portion, so it was left as it is.
3) Fueli)

The data collected included fuel consumed in the unit processes, i.e., polymerization,
spinning, carbonization, and detoxification of the exhaust gas from the sameprocesses.

ii)

Fuel consumed in the air system, wastewater system, solid waste, and otherenvironmental countermeasure equipment were also included in the data collection.

(4)i)

Environmental impact data
For the environmental impact, the data provided by the responding companies
should be based on the post-treatment one. However, since it is assumed that inmost cases the actual load due to direct emissions and the load after treatment are
mixed, if there is measurement data available, the measurement data was used as
the object of the collected data.

ii)

As for the environmental measurement equipment, the consumption of electricity,
steam, fuel, etc. is considered as a data item to be collected, so if there is no12

measured data for CO2, SOx, or NOx in the atmospheric system impact data, thedata was calculated from the energy and fuel consumed using background data.
iii) Data on solid waste, including product loss, was collected by dividing it into thosethat are effectively used, those that are self-disposed of or treated within the factory,
and those that are taken outside the factory as industrial waste, with those that are
effectively used within the factory not shown as environmental impact. However,items that are sold for value and ultimately put to effective use outside the factory
but are not used inside the factory are considered to have an environmental impact.
iv) Principles of Collected Data
iv-i)

Data were obtained as "NA" (not available) in cases where it was known
that a load was present but no measured or estimated values were available
or it was unknown whether a load was present or not.

iv-ii)In the case of "ND" (not detected), the data was considered as "0", i.e.,
when the measured results are not detected (below the detection limit) andwhen the annual amount is "less than 0.001 g/kg of product".

iv-iii)If there was no measured value, but it was clear that it was not theoreticallyassumed that there was an environmental impact of the process in question,
it was left blank and treated as "0" for calculation purposes.

iv-iv)

Data for CO and CO2 were obtained as "as CO" and "as CO2".

iv-v)

Data for phosphorus and nitrogen compounds were obtained as "asphosphorus" and "as nitrogen".

iv-vi)

Data for waste acid and alkali were obtained by mass after dewatering.

iv-vii) Data for sludge were obtained using dry conversion for both organic andinorganic sludge.
iv-viii) Data for the cinders were obtained including fly ashes.
iv-ix)

Data for COD and BOD were obtained from measurements including thosetaken in from the natural world at the time of water intake.

5-3 Assumptions for processing (calculation) of collected data
In this section, assumptions for processing (calculation) of collected data are divided
into seven categories: (1) scope of calculation, (2) calculation of electricity, (3)calculation of steam, (4) treatment of NA responses, (5) allocation, (6) calculation of13

nitrogen and air, and (7) raw and sub-materials using substitute data and items
excluded from the calculation. Then, the definition of content, principles for datacollection, and principles for processing at the data aggregation stage are explained.

(1)

Scope of calculation

Unit process data is collected and calculated as "Gate to Gate" and LCI data by raw
material retrogression is collected and calculated as "Cradle to Gate". Therefore,transportation and packaging materials used for product shipment were excluded fromthe calculations. In addition, the transportation data of raw materials brought into theunit process were excluded from the calculation, except for various petroleum products
supplied from petroleum refining complexes.
Regarding CF, examination of material recycling has been carried out on the end material
in the factory and part of the used products, and utilization of milled fiber, etc. after
regeneration treatment is expected. JCMA has collected reclamation data from thedemonstration plant and organized it as LCI data to date. In this analysis, however,recycling was not taken into account in the estimation of LCI data for CF.

(2)i)

Calculation of electricity
Electricity

purchased

from

joint

power

generationcompanies

based

in

petrochemical complexes, etc., or from companies specializing in power generationsuch as electricity and steam, which are separate companies, was treated in thesame way as electricity received from power plants.
ii)

It is difficult to obtain answers by separating the power consumed by theenvironmental countermeasure equipment into public power and power received
from the power plant. However, since the ratio of power consumed byenvironmental countermeasure equipment to the total power consumed, including
production processes, is not so large, all the power consumed in the data processing
stage was prorated by the ratio of on-site generated and purchased (public power)
power for the power consumed in the processes.

iii) The on-site generation power consumed by the unit process (or prorated from thepower consumed by nitrogen and environmental countermeasure equipment) was
calculated using the weighted average of power plant data collected from CF
manufacturers in this analysis.
iv) The on-site generation power, which is counted when retroactively adding back to

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the raw materials, was calculated using background data (weighted average dataof power plants in the petrochemical industry).

(3)i)

Calculation of steam
Steam consumed in the unit process was calculated using the weighted average ofpower plant data collected from CF manufacturers in this analysis.

ii)

The steam, which is counted when retroactively adding back to the raw materials,
was calculated using background data (weighted average data of power plants inthe petrochemical industry).

iii) The paid-out steam delivered from the process is deductible, but the steam
generated and recovered in the environmental countermeasure equipment and thendelivered to the process is not deductible. Note that there is no recovered steam in
the relevant system (CF unit process and environmental countermeasureequipment) covered in this analysis.
iv) However, in the retrospective calculation of raw materials, when the data used in
the calculation as background data are based on the deduction of steam that has
been generated and collected in the environmental countermeasures equipment,
the data may remain intact because the data are within the range that the operationof the present analysis and the data processor does not extend.

(4)

Handling of NA responses

When calculating the weighted average, the "NA" responses were excluded from theprocessed data and the weighted average was calculated with the other responses.

(5)i)

Allocation
In processing environmental countermeasure equipment data as well as the unit
process in question, it is necessary to allocate the energy and environmental impact
to be borne by the product in question. In this analysis, the energy andenvironmental impact data for the relevant unit process is allocated based on themass ratio of the target product, the co-product, and the by-products that are
regularly used as raw materials.

ii)

The energy and environmental impact data of the environmental countermeasure15

equipment to be borne by the unit process in question was left to the methods
normally used by the data disclosing company in data management when theenvironmental countermeasure equipment is shared with other processes in theestablishment where the unit process is located (for example, in the case of acommon wastewater treatment equipment) and delegated to them.
iii) The following are indicators of allocation in past LCI data surveys in chemical
products. And this information was informed in advance to the companies disclosing
the data prior to data collection.
iii-i) Allocation based on the ratio of the production volume (mass) of products
produced

at

the

plant

that

discharges

treatedsubstances

to

the

countermeasure equipment in question.
iii-ii) Allocation by the ratio of the amount of treated substances (e.g., wastewater
volume) that are outsourced to the countermeasure equipment in question.
iii-iii) Allocation from environmental countermeasure equipment is based on theloading ratio.
iii-iv) Allocation is based on the allocation coefficient in the accounting (budget).
iii-v) Allocation of road lighting is based on the area ratio.
iii-vi) All allocations are based on staffing ratios.
iv) Valuable off-grades were made subject to energy and other allocations for theprocess in question and treated the same as the target product.

(6)i)

Calculation of nitrogen and air
All nitrogen was purchased externally. Unit data of the electricity and steam
consumption for nitrogen was determined using the unit data based on the
production performance of industrial gas manufacturers (background data). Thisdata was created by Japan Plastic Waste Management Institute in cooperation withgas manufacturers, and is commonly used in the LCI data published in 1999, mainly
for general-purpose synthetic resins (LCI data survey report for petrochemical
products: Japan Plastic Waste Management Institute) and in the construction of LCI
data for various chemical products, etc.

ii)

However, since it was not possible to obtain information on the composition ratio of
public power and on-site power generation in the electricity consumption of nitrogen,it was decided to prorate it by the composition ratio of public power and on-site

16

power generation in the electricity consumption of the CF manufacturing process
calculated from the data collected in this study.
iii) Since the nitrogen used in the calculations here is nitrogen produced inpetrochemical complexes, the calculations for on-site power generation and steam
in nitrogen were performed using average data for power plants (electricity andsteam) in the petrochemical industry. These data are maintained by Japan
Petrochemical Industry Association (JPCA), and permission to use them was
obtained from JPCA. This unit data for power plants, i.e., on-site power and steam,is an energy and environmental impact unit generated based on actual datacollected from five petrochemical companies with ethylene centers.
iv) The PC carbonization process takes in air and uses oxygen from the air. For thisreason, we decided not to calculate the electricity and vapor associated with theconsumption of oxygen as an industrial gas, as is the case with nitrogen. In thiscase, the oxygen in the air is used and the unnecessary nitrogen is released into
the atmosphere. However, this nitrogen is not treated as an atmospheric emission
because it is simply returned from what was originally in the air (in the atmosphere).
Note that the electricity consumed for air intake is included in the electricity
consumed by the CF manufacturing process.

(7)

Raw materials and sub-materials using substitute data, and items
excluded from calculationi)

Materials input for the manufacture of equipment such as plants and ancillaryfacilities used in production were excluded from the calculation of LCI data.

ii)

Input raw materials and auxiliary raw materials/materials for which substitute data
were used are shown in Table 4. All PAN input raw materials were retroactively
calculated as AN. Solvents among PC inputs were excluded from the retrospective
calculation by applying the cutoff rule. There is no clear standard for the cutoff rulein ISO 14040 and other standards. In this survey, we decided to apply the cutoff
rule to a portion of raw materials that is less than 5% of the total raw material input.
This is based on the concept of the cutoff criteria in the LCA Guidelines forGreenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Effects of Geothermal Heat Pump Systems(March 2012, Ministry of the Environment): "In the product manufacturing sector,
about 5% corresponding to the mass of the product is generally used”.

iii) Of the raw materials (excluding packaging materials) input to PAN, PC, and CF listed
in Table 4, excluding solvents input to PC, the total input after retroactive calculation(naphtha, reformate, LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), NGL (Natural Gas Liquids),

17

natural gas, LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), oil coke, coal, crude benzol, catalysts,
industrial salt, quicklime, solvents, and sulfur) totaled 2.632 tons. Since thepercentages of quicklime and solvents in this total are small (0.4% and 0.05%,
respectively), the cut-off rule was applied, and no retroactive calculation was made.
Note that the solvents here are not the solvents fed into PC, but the solvents
required for the retroactive calculation of electrolyte. In addition, sulfur was treatedas a reminder flow that does not impose environmental impact because sulfur is a
byproduct of the petroleum refining process.
iv) In addition, there is a coagulant used in the coagulation bath that is not listed inTable 4 but is introduced here as an example. The coagulation bath is a liquidconsisting of 67% DMAC and 33% water. The coagulant is usually used without
replacing the coagulation bath liquid and replenished for losses, but the amount of
coagulant replenishment is extremely small, less than 0.1%, so it was excluded
from the data collection items.
v)

Data on packaging materials used for product shipment were collected for future
use but were excluded from the calculations because the scope of this survey is"Cradle to Gate," which is the exit point of the CF manufacturing process. However,
we are presenting the unit data as a result of the survey so that users can makeappropriate calculations according to their purposes when utilizing this data. Notethat since paper tubes are used repeatedly and are basically used until they become
useless, the amount used per unit weight of CF is practically as close to "zero" as
possible.

Table 4 Input raw materials and auxiliary materials/materials using substitute data

Polymerization process

Spinning process
Carbonization process

Product shipment

Acrylonitrile (AN)AN

Comonomer

Substitute AN

Polymerization catalyst

Substitute AN

Solvent

Substitute AN

PAN fiber oil (PG)

Calculated with PO and water

Solvent

Apply cutoff rule

Carbon fiber sizing agent

EPElectrolyte (sulfuric acid)

Substitute sulfuric acid

Packaging film (PE)Excluded from calculation

Paper tube

Excluded from calculation

Outer packaging material (PE)Excluded from calculation

Outer packaging material(corrugated cardboard)
NOTE:

Excluded from calculation

Packaging materials used at the time of product shipment were excluded from the18

calculation.

5-4 Sources of data used
Table 5 lists the sources of the data used in this survey. Background data cannot be
uniformly described in terms of data quality because the data sources differ dependingon the data applied. Table 5 lists the year and the data creator (or the name of the citedreference) of the data used in this survey, including foreground data.
Among the background data, some data on AN, which is particularly important in thecalculation of LCI data for PAN-based CF, were reviewed in this analysis and aredescribed below.
The AN data is not only the main raw material of PAN, but also co-monomers,
polymerization catalysts, solvents, and other highly confidential secondary raw
materials used by different manufacturers are retroactively calculated with the AN data.
Therefore, with the cooperation of Japan Acrylonitrile Producers Association, we
obtained quantitative information on the current status of utilization of large amounts
of by-product steam and applied partially revised data to the calculations.
In this analysis, data on the "unit process" of CF production and the "power plant of theplant with the unit process" were collected directly from the members of JCMA.
Therefore, the unit process data and power plant data are foreground data. On the other
hand, background data is used for the data up to the manufacturing process of various
raw materials, mainly AN.

Table 5 Sources of data usedNo

Category

Data name

Literature nameYear

Calculated Greenhouse Gas Emission Data
(Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of
１

Ｂ

Public electricity

Economy, Trade and Industry),

Fiscal Year

CO2

Electricity Survey and Statistics (Agency for2014

Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry)
Data released by 10 general electric utilities,
２

Ｂ

Public electricity

Electricity Survey and Statistics (Agency for

Fiscal Year

SOX, NOXNatural Resources and Energy, Ministry of

2014

Economy, Trade and Industry)
３

Ｂ

Public electricity

Electricity Survey Statistics (Agency for

Fiscal Year

EnergyNatural Resources and Energy, Ministry of

2014

19

consumption

Economy, Trade and Industry),

Partially

List of standard calorific values by energy

corrected

source (Agency for Natural Resources andonEnergy, Ministry of Economy, Trade andNovemberIndustry)

17, 2017

LCI Preparation for Petroleum Products by Oil
４

Ｂ

Petroleum

Type and Environmental Impact Assessment

Marchproducts

Report for Petroleum Products (Japan

2000

Petroleum Energy Center)
Survey Report on Comparison of Oil, LNG,
５

Ｂ

Natural gas, coaland Coal Using LCA Methodology (Japan
Petroleum Energy Center)

Resource
６

Ｂ

extraction andtransportation
On-site power

７

Ｂ

generation,
steam(Cogeneration)

Data from reports No. 4 and No. 5 in thistable are used.

March
1999

-

LCI Data Survey Report for Petrochemical
Products (Japan Plastic Waste Management

July 1999

Institute)
Acrylonitrile Inventory Analysis Report (Japan

８

Ｂ

AN

Acrylonitrile Producers Association)

2002

Electricity was recalculated on a 2014 basis,

2000

and byproduct steam evaluations were

results

revised with November 2019 survey data.
No literature: Representative values
estimated by WIC at the request of the
Urethane Raw Materials Industry Association
９

Ｂ

PO

with the cooperation of data from member
manufacturers of the Japan Petrochemical
Industry Association (not disclosed).

2003
2000
results

However, electricity was recalculated on a2014 basis.
Calculated with PO and water due to lack of
10

Ｂ

PG

PG data. However, electricity was recalculated-

on a 2014 basis.
Survey Report on the Construction of
Inventory Data for Composite Materials (The
11

Ｂ

EP

Society of Japan Aerospace Companies).

July 1999

However, electric power was recalculated on
a 2014 basis.
No literature: Calculated based on data
12

Ｂ

Sulfuric Acidprovided by the Sulfurous Acid Association ofJapan (not disclosed). However, electricity

20

2001

data was recalculated on a 2014 basis.
No literature: Representative values preparedby Japan Plastic Waste Management Institute
13

Ｂ

Nitrogen gas

in cooperation with the Japan Petrochemical
Industry Association (not disclosed).

1999

However, electricity was recalculated on a2014 basis.
On-site electricity and steam used in the unit
14Ｆ

On-site powerprocess calculations were averages calculated

generation,from data collected from members of JCMA

steam

(actual data from companies that discloseddata).
Data prepared this time based on

15

Ｆ

PAN、PC、CF

performance data provided by three JCMA
member companies (reported in this report).

Based onactualproduction
in 2017
Based onactualproduction
in 2017

Note 1: "B" in "Category" is background data and "F" is foreground data.
Note 2: AN (acrylonitrile), PO (propylene oxide), PG (propylene glycol), EP (epoxy)
Note 3: PAN (polyacrylonitrile), PC (precursor), CF (PAN-based CF)
Note 4: Energy consumption and environmental impact associated with the consumption ofelectricity are calculated according to No. 1 to No. 6, and are calculated as the combined
amount of primary and secondary energy. Steam and fuel are calculated in the sameway.

5-5 Inventory data submitted
Two types of data were estimated: unit process data and cumulative data traced backto natural resources. However, in the interest of confidentiality for the companies in the
CF industry, we decided to release the cumulative data. The following is a report on thecontents of the registration. The subsystem information to be registered is shown in
Table 6.

Table 6 Subsystem Information
Data ID

Subsystem
information

Classification code,

2262 Carbon fiber manufacturer (in Japanese industrial

Product nameclassification)

Classification code,

256919 Other carbon and graphite products (selected

Product namefrom JLCA registration codes)

Subsystem name

Manufacture of PAN-based carbon fibers (all processes:
cradle to gate)

21

Specification
Subsystem
Classification

High-strength CFs with tensile modulus of 230 to 250
GPa, filament counts of 12K (800 tex) to 24K (1600 tex)
Production

Unit quantity

1kg

Weight1kg

Allocation method

Allocation by weight ratio
The CF manufacturing process consists of three major
steps: polymerization of raw materials (PAN
manufacturing), spinning (precursor manufacturing), andcarbonization (CF manufacturing). Energy consumption
and environmental impact in this data represent the totalenergy consumption and environmental impact of allprocesses (from resource mining and extraction to CF
production) related to the production of 1 kg of CF(higher heating value was used to convert each energy
into heat). Only the replenishment of raw materials
recycled in the unit process was accounted for in eachprocess. By-products of the unit process that are sold as
valuable raw materials were treated as if they were thetarget products of the process, and the energy
consumption and environmental impact of the process

Special remarks

were allocated to them. The allocation was done on aweight ratio basis.
The total primary energy consumption of all raw materials
and fuels (electricity, steam, and directly consumed fuels)
input for the production of 1 kg of CF, calculated back to
the mining and extraction of resources, is 318.2 MJ. In
addition, there is 32.1 MJ of feedstock energy, which
together makes a total of 350.2 MJ. This data wascompiled by the committee of JCMA (The Japan Carbon
Fiber Manufacturers Association) in JCFA (Japan Chemical
Fibers Association) under contract to WIC (Industry
Information Collaboration Research Center). The
calculated data were subjected to critical review by threeacademic experts, and the final data were revised asnecessary based on the review results.

Creation dateDatacreatorSeptember 6, 2022

Name
Committee of JCMA (The Japan Carbon Fiber
Affiliation

Manufacturers Association) in JCFA (Japan Chemical
Fibers Association)

22

Commissioned by WIC (Industry Information
Collaboration Research Center)
Address
E-mail address

7th Fl., Sen-i Kaikan, 3-1-11, Nihombashi-Honcho, Chuoku, Tokyo 103-0023, Japan
https://www8.webcas.net/form/pub/jcma/jcmacontacten

Phone number

81-3-3241-2311

FAX number

81-3-3246-0823

Time-related
coverage
GeographicalcoverageTechnology
coverage
Quality information

Fiscal year 2017 Results (April 1, 2017 - March 31, 2018)
Japan
World
This column is to be entered by the database operator.
Data collected in the unit process are based on production
performance. All background data used for calculations inSpecial remarks

the cumulative data to be released to the public, with the
exception of solvents, quicklime, recovered sulfur, andsolid waste processing, were based on actual production
data.
Data prepared by Japan Petrochemical Industry
Association, Japan Acrylonitrile Producers Association,

Data

and Japan Petroleum Energy Center were used for

qualityretroactive calculations of main raw materials and fuels.

information

Electricity is from Electricity Survey Statistics FY2014(Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry), Standard Calorific Value
List by Energy Source Revised in 2017 (Agency for
Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of Economy, Trade
References

and Industry); CO2 from electricity is from Greenhouse
Gas Calculated Emissions Tabulation Results FY2014(Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry), Electricity Survey Statistics (Agency
for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry); and For SOx and NOx, a weighted
average value based on the amount of electricity
generated was calculated from values published bygeneral transmission and distribution companies (10electric power companies in Japan) and other sources.

As a supplement to the classification codes in the subsystem information (Table 6), CF

23

belongs to the ceramic industry in the national industrial classification and is classified
as classification code 2262 "Carbon fiber manufacturers”. Since this classification does
not exist in the database of Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry,
it was registered as 256919 "Other carbon and graphite products manufacturingindustry" in the ceramic industry. This is annexed in Table 6.
Next, Table 7 shows the subsystem input information as cumulative inventory data
(Gate to Gate) for the production of 1 kg of PAN-based CF, and Table 8 shows the output
information.

Table 7 Subsystem Input Data
Category

Code

Item

Mean

Special remarksvalue

The resources required to obtain fuels (specifically,
consumed fuels such as naphtha, heavy oil, light oil,liquefied petroleum gas, by-product fuel oil and gas,
07

Crude oil

0.546ℓ

LNG, etc.) consumed in all processes from mining of
natural resources to CF production, which arederived from crude oil, are shown in terms of crude
oil. All energy consumption, CO2 emissions, etc. toobtain these fuels are retroactively calculated.
The resources required to obtain the fuelsconsumed in all processes from mining of natural

07

Natural
gas

2.463
m

3

resources to CF production, which are derived fromnatural gas, are shown in terms of natural gas. Allenergy consumption, CO2 emissions, etc. to obtain

Energythese fuels are retroactively calculated.
Coal consumed in all processes from mining of
06

Coal

6.354

natural resources to CF production is shown as it is.

kg

Energy consumption, CO2 emissions, etc. to obtaincoal are all retroactively calculated.

LNG
0721

0721

LNG consumed in all processes from mining of(Liquefied

0.260

natural resources to CF production is shown as it is.

Naturalkg

Energy consumption, CO2 emissions, etc. to obtainGas)

LNG are all retroactively calculated.

NGL

NGL consumed in all processes from mining of(Natural

4.393

natural resources to CF production is shown as it is.

Gas

μg

Energy consumption, CO2 emissions, etc. to obtain

Liquids)
Rawmaterials

07

Crude oil

NLG are all retroactively calculated.
3.128

The resources necessary to obtain raw materialsℓinput for the production of CF, which are derived

24

from crude oil, are shown in terms of crude oil. Theenergy consumed and CO2, SOx, and NOx emitted
to obtain these resources are all retroactively
calculated. The amount of crude oil required to
calculate by-product sulfur for CF production is also
added.
The resources required to obtain the raw materials
input for the production of CF, which are derived
07

Natural
gas

0.156
m

3

from natural gas, are shown in terms of naturalgas. The energy consumed and CO2, SOx, and NOx
emitted to obtain these resources are all
retroactively calculated.
The amount of coal derived from the resources
required to obtain the raw materials input for the

06

Coal

0.015
kg

production of CF is shown as it is. The energy
consumption and emissions of CO2, SOx, and NOx
to obtain these resources are all retroactively
calculated.
The amount of seawater required to obtain
industrial salt (imported) input for the production of-

Seawater

0.161

CF is shown. Energy consumption and emissions ofkg

CO2, SOx, and NOx to obtain industrial salt are all
calculated retroactively, including the importprocess.
The amount of quicklime input for the production of-

Quicklime

0.009
kg

CF is shown. Energy consumed and CO2, SOx, andNOx emitted in the process from limestone toquicklime are not retroactively calculated.
The amount of steam input for the production of CF

-

Steam

0.011

is shown. Energy consumed and CO2, SOx, andkg

NOx emitted in obtaining steam are all calculated
retroactively.
The amount of air required to obtain the oxygen-Air13.905kg

input for the production of CF is shown. The energy
consumed and CO2, SOx, and NOx emitted in
obtaining oxygen are all calculated retroactively.
The amount of solvent input for the production of-Solvents

0.093
kg

CF is shown. Energy consumed and CO2, SOx, andNOx emitted in obtaining solvents are notretroactively calculated.

-

Process

2.712

water

kg

The amount of process water input for the
production of CF is shown. Energy consumed andCO2, SOx, and NOx emitted in obtaining process25water are all calculated retroactively.
The amount of sulfur input for the production of CF-

Recovered0.052

is shown. Sulfur is recovered sulfur, a byproduct ofsulfurkg

the petroleum refining process, and no retroactive
calculations have been made.

Note:

The data acquisition method is a combination of actual measurement and calculation.

Table 8 Subsystem Output Data
Category

Item

Mean value

Special remarks

Environmental

CO2

19.849 kg

The total value of the entire life cycle (fromimpact substancesNOx

0.0353 kg

resource mining to CF production) for the(Atmosphere)SOx

0.0161 kg

production of 1 kg of CF.
Solid waste discharged in the production of
CF is shown as a cumulative value from the

Outsourced Waste

Solid waste

0.157 kg

starting material. Energy consumption, CO2,
SOx, and NOx emitted from the treatment ofsolid waste are not retroactively calculated.

Note:

The data acquisition method is a combination of actual measurement and calculation.

26