Acrylonitrile-based acrylic fibers are used to make many things, for example clothing, carpeting, blankets and rubber for hoses and gaskets.

About 5,000,000 tons of acrylonitrile are made each year, with CO2 as an undesirable byproduct.  Neutron powder diffraction analyses have been critical to the development of manufacturing catalysts that perform best at the high reaction temperatures, therefore reducing CO2 by as much as 33% compared to previous catalysts.