Aksa Akrilik Kimya (Istanbul / Turkey; www.aksa.com), which claims to be the world's largest producer of acrylic fibres, is persistently pursuing its plan to also become one of the world's largest carbon fibre manufacturers, with a world market share of 10%. A 42 t/y pilot plant built in 2007/2008 by the subsidiary of the Akkök group (Istanbul; www.akkok.com.tr) was recently replaced by an industrial scale plant with a capacity of 1,500 t/y.

The company’s plant at Yalova, south of Istanbul on the eastern side of the Sea of Marmara, is seen as a flagship project. It was developed and built in cooperation with the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey TÜBITAK (Ankara / Turkey; www.tubitak.gov.tr). The goal is to drive the use of composites in Turkey.