Carbon fibre producer and processor Zoltek (St. Louis, Missouri / USA; www.zoltek.com) is to double production capacity at the Zoltek de Mexico facility in Guadalajara, Mexico, to 5,000 t/y from April 2016. The company presently produces large tow carbon fibre at its plants in Mexico and Hungary, where it announced a planned expansion earlier in 2015 – see Plasteurope.com of 10.04.2015. The fibre is ideal for large scale commercial applications including wind energy and automotive industries, the company said.

In anticipation of a large increase in demand for large tow carbon fibre, Zoltek plans to double its current global production from 13,000 t/y by 2020. To support this, it will begin phased enhancements at the Mexican plant. The facility has the existing infrastructure for expansion and will fulfil increasing demand, including future supply to the growing North American automobile industry.