4M and Litzler Partner to Produce World's First Plasma Oxidation Commercial Oven at Scale
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- 4M Industrial Oxidation, LLC, a subsidiary of RMX Technologies, announced today that it has signed a letter of intent with C.A. Litzler Co., Inc. to jointly commercialize the world's first 175-ton plasma oxidation oven for OPF and carbon fiber production. Matt Litzler, President of C.A. Litzler Co., is attending JEC World: Composites Show in Paris this week to announce the partnership and will be exhibiting at Booth M32C.
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Said Litzler, "We have made great strides in the past few months and initiated fabrication of components for the first commercial scale oven. We believe we have a path to commercialization that will allow us to offer these plasma oxidation ovens to the industry. We now have requests for three quotes."
Rodney G. Grubb, RMX President, continued, "We have been working with Matt and his team for a year to develop the design and are excited about the progress we have made to effectively scale the plasma technology."
Truman Bonds, RMX's Vice President for Development and Research, said, "The ability to focus on the integration of the plasma components and operating system while the Litzler technical team deals with the oven design, fiber handling, environmental elements, and balance of plant has been extremely valuable in moving the design and construction forward in the past 6 months."
The patented 4M plasma-oxidation process will be key in the worldwide carbon fiber market expansion from 83,000 metric tons of carbon fiber per year to over 219,000 tons per year from 2015 to 2024 (market information from Composites Forecasts and Consulting, LLC at the Carbon Fiber Conference 2015). It operates more than 3 times faster than current commercial technology and uses less than 25% of the energy per pound of fiber, also making it a "green" process. 4M has successfully tested for four carbon fiber makers and demonstrated quality fiber, increased throughput and significant energy reduction benefits. Plasma oxidation has also demonstrated improvement in the fiber quality versus conventional processing.
ABOUT 4M Industrial Oxidation
Headquartered in Knoxville, TN as a manufacturer specialized in oxidation equipment, 4M has licensed RMX's plasma technologies related to the oxidation of a variety of materials. With support from the U.S. Department of Energy, RMX has developed a revolutionary plasma-based carbon fiber oxidation technology and is supporting 4M Industrial Oxidation in commercializing this technology. More information is online at http://www.4mio.com.
ABOUT C. A. Litzler Co.
Headquartered in Cleveland, OH, Litzler is a 63-year-old engineering business involved in complete carbon fiber lines and prepreg machinery. www.calitzler.com
Agency Contact:
Chuck Morris
Morris Creative Group LLC
865-637-9869
Email
Company Contact:
Truman Bonds
Email
www.4mio.com
SOURCE 4M Industrial Oxidation
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