Many see coal as an energy source of the past, one that has outlived its usefulness, but scientists wonder whether the carbon-rich rock, blamed for many environmental ills, could be tapped for composite materials of the future. Now the University of Utah is looking for ways to turn the state rock into carbon fiber, a high-tech material that is light and strong and may be capable of building a 21st century manufacturing economy in environmentally benign ways.
“There’s an abundance of coal, and we...
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