Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TREASURE (leading the TRansion of the European Automotive SUpply chain towards a circulaR futurE)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-06-01 al 2022-11-30
Car electronics is one of the most valuable sources of Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) in cars. However, there is a remarkable lack of interest of carmakers (and the whole automotive value chain) towards its recovery from End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs). Especially at End-of-Life (EoL) phase, there are still many issues to be solved to functionally recover materials from cars (e.g. reuse recovered materials for the same purpose they were exploited originally) and the dependence from natural resources when producing new cars (even if electric/hybrid/fuel cell-powered) is still too high. This mandatory systemic transformation requires all companies/sectors to redefine products lifecycles since the beginning, by considering different CE approaches, and integrating design-for-disassembly and design-for-recycling approaches into the design phases. Considering together the wide number of barriers impacting on the automotive sector and the limited collaboration among actors involved in traditional automotive value chains, the transition towards CE cannot be reached so easily. From one side, Beginning-of-Life (BoL) and EoL stages are still unconnected from an information sharing perspective. This way, even if data on materials embedded in cars are known since many years, no one can exploit them. From another side, even if ELV management processes are active in Europe since the sixties, none of the actors involved in these processes is available to share their knowledge with carmakers or car part suppliers, given their unavailability to collaborate. So, both carmakers and car part suppliers cannot improve their design practices to make cars easier to disassemble and recycle. Here, TREASURE can offer a good chance for testing innovative technologies to make the automotive sector more circular. In particular, TREASURE has three main objectives:
1) The development of an AI-based scenario assessment tool supporting the development of circular supply chains in the automotive sector.
2) The representation of a set of success stories in three key value chains of the automotive industry (focusing on SMEs): 1) dismantlers/shredder; 2) recyclers and 3) manufacturers.
3) The integration of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) for the efficient design of car electronics and subsequent disassembly and materials recovery.
4) The exploration of possible contributions to new standardization documents.
1) The development of an AI-based scenario assessment tool supporting the development of circular supply chains in the automotive sector.
2) The representation of a set of success stories in three key value chains of the automotive industry (focusing on SMEs): 1) dismantlers/shredder; 2) recyclers and 3) manufacturers.
3) The integration of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) for the efficient design of car electronics and subsequent disassembly and materials recovery.
4) The exploration of possible contributions to new standardization documents.
Since now, the TREASURE project achieved the following results:
1) A reference framework was developed. It represents a starting point for assessment/advisory methodologies, platform design/implementation activities and mapping the relevant interactions among project outputs. Even if developed in the 1st half of the project, it will evolve together with it to manage emerging needs/constraints (e.g. arising from interactions with stakeholders).
2) An integrated framework for the sustainability & circularity performance assessment (LCS&CA) was developed. Existing environmental, economic, social, and circular assessment methodologies and KPIs were studied, aggregated, integrated and tailored to provide a holistic interpretation of the assessment results.
3) A sustainability & circularity advisory methodology was developed to support both EoL and BoL decision-making in different use cases, by providing best practices towards the improvement of sustainability performances. Specific workshops were organized with pilots’ leading teams.
4) An already existing semi-automated PCB disassembly station (developed during a past H2020 project) was reconfigured and optimized, in order to manage car electronics. Starting from car parts extracted from ELVs (and after a manual extraction of PCBs from cases), the process is able to desolder semiconductors from PCBs and separate them from the main board. This way, single electronic components can be recycled separately, depending on their content in terms of CRMs.
5) An already existing (and patented) hydrometallurgical process (developed during a past H2020 project) was reconfigured and optimized. Precious, critical, and base metals were selected from valuable car electronics components. Chemical characterization, recycling routes definition, and lab-scale tests were implemented on these materials.
6) A preliminary mapping of relevant standards (both active and under development) related to electric and electronic equipments was implemented. This 1st scanning highlighted a relevant legislation gap. No European legislation seems, so far, giving enough attention to retrieving electronics from cars, although the value that can be generated from them is economically, environmentally and socially relevant.
1) A reference framework was developed. It represents a starting point for assessment/advisory methodologies, platform design/implementation activities and mapping the relevant interactions among project outputs. Even if developed in the 1st half of the project, it will evolve together with it to manage emerging needs/constraints (e.g. arising from interactions with stakeholders).
2) An integrated framework for the sustainability & circularity performance assessment (LCS&CA) was developed. Existing environmental, economic, social, and circular assessment methodologies and KPIs were studied, aggregated, integrated and tailored to provide a holistic interpretation of the assessment results.
3) A sustainability & circularity advisory methodology was developed to support both EoL and BoL decision-making in different use cases, by providing best practices towards the improvement of sustainability performances. Specific workshops were organized with pilots’ leading teams.
4) An already existing semi-automated PCB disassembly station (developed during a past H2020 project) was reconfigured and optimized, in order to manage car electronics. Starting from car parts extracted from ELVs (and after a manual extraction of PCBs from cases), the process is able to desolder semiconductors from PCBs and separate them from the main board. This way, single electronic components can be recycled separately, depending on their content in terms of CRMs.
5) An already existing (and patented) hydrometallurgical process (developed during a past H2020 project) was reconfigured and optimized. Precious, critical, and base metals were selected from valuable car electronics components. Chemical characterization, recycling routes definition, and lab-scale tests were implemented on these materials.
6) A preliminary mapping of relevant standards (both active and under development) related to electric and electronic equipments was implemented. This 1st scanning highlighted a relevant legislation gap. No European legislation seems, so far, giving enough attention to retrieving electronics from cars, although the value that can be generated from them is economically, environmentally and socially relevant.
Considering together 1) the current state of technologies adopted for managing ELVs at disassembly and recycling stages, 2) sustainability performances of automotive EoL management processes, 3) increasing amounts of embedded electronics (and CRMs) in cars and 4) output materials’ quality levels, TREASURE is the 1st project focusing on the recycling of car electronics and valorization of secondary materials recovered from it in order to increase the circularity of the whole automotive sector. Several innovations are expected:
1) The modular nature of the recycling pilot plant will ease the management of different mixes of car electronics within the same pilot. Being it also mobile, the pilot could be transferred where needed. Additionally, the adoption of I4.0 technologies will enable the real-time monitoring of relevant performances.
2) Current ELV recycling processes are degrading materials’ quality and forces a downcycling of materials, sometime outside the automotive sector. TREASURE will exploit an innovative simulation model dedicated to material recycling (developed by MARAS) to link design with physical separation and metallurgy.
3) Secondary materials extracted from car electronics will be exploited to produce new printed electronic components and plastic parts.
4) The TREASURE platform could allow data/information sharing that could drastically ease the recovery of high-quality materials in the most appropriate way.
5) A set of standardization and policy-related activities will be implemented to make both industrials and politicians aware about the current issues of the ELV management system.
6) In terms of structural electronics, TREASURE will allow to study new disassembly processes and assess their environmental benefits. This would greatly facilitate policy development in this area.
7) TREASURE will increase the EU knowledge base on secondary raw materials embedded into cars.
8) TREASURE will assess for the 1st time the car electronics lifecycle and circularity by identifying the most widely accepted methodologies, KPIs and aggregation/integration methods.
9) For the 1st time an advisory framework will connect the three stages (disassembly, recycling, design) of the automotive value chain, by closing the loop through information sharing and improving the sustainability and circularity performance along the value chain.
10) Further standardization needs, even considering the recent European legislation developments about CRMs, will be further exploited in the 2nd part of the project. The link between the project consortium and relevant standardization bodies will be reinforced in order to boost the transfer of the research results to the standardization world.
1) The modular nature of the recycling pilot plant will ease the management of different mixes of car electronics within the same pilot. Being it also mobile, the pilot could be transferred where needed. Additionally, the adoption of I4.0 technologies will enable the real-time monitoring of relevant performances.
2) Current ELV recycling processes are degrading materials’ quality and forces a downcycling of materials, sometime outside the automotive sector. TREASURE will exploit an innovative simulation model dedicated to material recycling (developed by MARAS) to link design with physical separation and metallurgy.
3) Secondary materials extracted from car electronics will be exploited to produce new printed electronic components and plastic parts.
4) The TREASURE platform could allow data/information sharing that could drastically ease the recovery of high-quality materials in the most appropriate way.
5) A set of standardization and policy-related activities will be implemented to make both industrials and politicians aware about the current issues of the ELV management system.
6) In terms of structural electronics, TREASURE will allow to study new disassembly processes and assess their environmental benefits. This would greatly facilitate policy development in this area.
7) TREASURE will increase the EU knowledge base on secondary raw materials embedded into cars.
8) TREASURE will assess for the 1st time the car electronics lifecycle and circularity by identifying the most widely accepted methodologies, KPIs and aggregation/integration methods.
9) For the 1st time an advisory framework will connect the three stages (disassembly, recycling, design) of the automotive value chain, by closing the loop through information sharing and improving the sustainability and circularity performance along the value chain.
10) Further standardization needs, even considering the recent European legislation developments about CRMs, will be further exploited in the 2nd part of the project. The link between the project consortium and relevant standardization bodies will be reinforced in order to boost the transfer of the research results to the standardization world.