Belgium, Brussels
Carbon fiber shortages, which threatened to disrupt composite compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinders supplies, have begun to ease with cylinder manufacturers saying it appears the worst is over. Massive increases in demand from military and aeronautical users (particularly Airbus, which is using composite is on its new A380 super liners) challenged manufacturing capacity and threatened to put the brakes on composite cylinder supplies. Increased capacity is expected to come on line in late 2007 early 2008.
CNG cylinder manufacturers at the ENGVA conference in Brussels last week were in agreement that while no projects are known to have been halted, some manufacturers weren’t in a position to participate in some bids. This situation has now passed as indicated by the recommencement of manufacture by UK-based Luxfer Cylinders, starting off with 400 units this year, ramping up to thousands next year.
While the cylinder manufacturing industry has weathered the storm well, the situation could have been much worse, were it not the efforts of the carbon fiber industry to meet demand. Cylinder manufacturers said that despite the small size of the CNG (and hydrogen) cylinder industry, all four global carbon fiber supplies gone out of their way to meet demand, with one manufacturer saying the level of cooperation has been extraordinary.
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