Effect of different technological and energy supply related measures on the primary energy demand of CFRP production

Carbon reinforced plastics (CFRP) are well-known for their excellent weight specific properties, resulting in energy reduction and emission savings during the use phase. Due to the required amount of raw materials and energy in the production phase, the holistic sustainability of these materials significantly depends on the manufacturing method, the achieved weight reduction and the respective application. One important key performance indicator to describe the sustainability of products over their whole life cycle is the primary energy demand (PED). The PED includes all sources of primary energy that have to be withdrawn from the environment in order to provide the function of a process, a product or a service. The presented study provides both manufacturers and users of CFRP with the means to effectively reduce the PED of CFRP production by investigating the effect of different technologically and energy supply related measures and their interdependencies along the process chain of CFRP production. The results show a great variance of the PED depending on particular, partly interdependent parameters in the process chains and highlight the importance of a detailed investigation of the state of the process chains subject to optimization.