On December 13, according to Nikkei, Toyota's parts manufacturer Toyota Iron Works and Nagoya University have reached a cooperation to jointly develop plant fiber materials to replace the glass fibers incorporated in automotive resin products.
It is reported that Toyota's research object this time is the grass plant sorghum, the goal is to extract cellulose nanofibers (CNF) from it. After research, Toyota has confirmed that the material can be used to replace glass fibers, and there is no difference in strength, which helps Toyota achieve energy conservation and environmental protection goals.
The problem is that the cost of CNF is 2000 yen / kg, and the cost of glass fiber is only 200 yen / kg, the gap is too big. Obviously, at this stage, THE CNF is difficult to use in car building, and the high cost Toyota is unwilling to bear. Toyota Iron Works said it is working on a more efficient process for separating CNFs from sorghum, which is expected to be completed in 2024.
To raise money for the project, Toyota Iron Works is preparing to sell the bio-alcohol it develops to power companies and use the proceeds to buy sorghum. In order to enable early mass production of THEF, Toyota Iron Works also intends to cooperate with the power company to develop sorghum abandoned farmland.
In recent years, the boom of energy conservation and environmental protection has become higher and higher, and many companies around the world have taken it as a gimmick, especially the mobile phone company Apple, which has launched iPhone packaging boxes that are getting smaller and smaller, fewer and fewer accessories, and even the charging head is gone. Apple's influence is extremely high, driving many mobile phone manufacturers to imitate.
Xiao Lei believes that the behavior of reducing accessories can not really achieve environmental protection, consumers still need to buy those accessories, Toyota's research and development of new materials, is the best solution for energy conservation and emission reduction. Replacing glass fibers with pollution-free natural plant fibers can reduce pollution in the glass fiber production process, which is much more environmentally friendly than Apple forcing users to buy their own original accessories.
Under the call for energy conservation and emission reduction, developed countries and regions around the world, as well as developing countries such as China, are making every effort to promote the development of electric vehicles. But the pollution of the automotive industry is not only in terms of energy, the entire automobile manufacturing process, all aspects are inevitably polluted.
Some car companies have been developing new materials with lower pollution, and the research on these materials is actually not only emerging in recent years, but such materials generally have the problem of higher cost, and it is difficult to achieve commercialization in a short period of time. Even if it is commercialized, the profit may not be comparable to that of traditional materials.
On the topic of Jinshan Yinshan, or green water and green mountains, human beings have chosen the latter, and I believe that in the future, more car companies will be involved in new material research, and the carbon emissions of the automotive industry will become lower and lower.