OAK RIDGE – LeMond Composites moved a step closer Wednesday in its countdown to realize one of the most significant developments in carbon fiber production over the past 50 years.
About 250 guests attended an opening celebration ceremony at the LeMond Composites facility at the Horizon Center Industrial Park in West Oak Ridge.
The company, founded by three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, has a licensing agreement with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to manufacture industry-changing high-volume, low-cost carbon fiber.
The revolutionary process, invented at ORNL by research engineer Connie Jackson and the LeMond Composites carbon fiber team, has global applications in myriad markets, including transportation, renewable energy and infrastructure construction.
“This has been something of a dream of mine,” said the 55-year-old LeMond, who won the Tour de France in 1986, 1989 and 1990.
“This is an opportunity to change the world,” he said.
LeMond Composites is scheduled to begin production in 2018. LeMond said there will be two production lines capable of delivering 16 to 20 million pounds of carbon fiber in the first year.
He expects growth to be rapid.
“I expect we’ll see a huge ramp up by 2019 or 2020,” LeMond said. “We could have 10 production lines producing 140 million pounds of carbon fiber.”
State economic development commissioner Randy Boyd, who attended Wednesday’s ceremony on behalf of Gov. Bill Haslam, lauded LeMond Composites’ $125 million investment, which will result in 242 jobs over the next five years.
“We want to thank LeMond Composites for its significant investment in Tennessee and creating 242 new, highly skilled jobs,” Boyd said.
“Oak Ridge National Lab is one of the state’s greatest assets, and the partnership between LeMond and ORNL will only strengthen Tennessee’s world-renowned reputation for manufacturing advanced, innovative products.”
Jackson, the CEO of LeMond Composites, said the new process for manufacturing carbon fiber has inherent advantages.
“We can provide the advantages of our carbon fiber to many industries by improving strength, stiffness and weight reduction,” Jackson said.
“If you imagine replacing steel, aluminum and fiberglass with our carbon fiber, you can begin to understand the scope of the potential market,” she said.
The revolutionary process reduces production costs by more than 50 percent relative to the lowest cost industrial-grade carbon fiber.
LeMond Composites has branded and trademarked its new low-cost fiber as “Grail.”
Since 1989, the carbon fiber industry has referred to $5-per-pound carbon fiber as the “Holy Grail” of carbon fiber.
Grail has the properties of carbon fiber costing three times as much, and the new production method reduces energy consumed by 60 percent during production.
LeMond, who always was looking for ways to make his bike lighter, faster and stronger, first transitioned from a steel to a rudimentary carbon fiber bike in 1986.
He said bike manufacturers were slow to embrace change, though.
“What’s crazy is they didn’t want to be innovative,” said LeMond, who continued in his quest to find a better carbon fiber.
He heard about a revolutionary carbon-fiber process during a visit to ORNL last year.
That’s when he met Jackson, and the two soon formed a formidable partnership.
“I got excited when I met her,” he said.
“This is not really my story. This is about Connie and Oak Ridge. It’s going to be an exciting ride.”