Holistic processes for the cost-effective and sustainable management of End of Life of Aircraft Composite Structures

Project Information

HELACS

Grant agreement ID: 101007871

DOI

10.3030/101007871

Project closed

EC signature date 8 December 2020

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 31 December 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 1 918 500,00

EU contribution

€ 1 796 775,00

Coordinated by

FUNDACION AITIIP
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - HELACS (Holistic processes for the cost-effective and sustainable management of End of Life of Aircraft Composite Structures)

Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

HELACS is based on:
i) previous results of end of life aircraft management projects (such as PAMELA or AIMERE),
ii) the review of recommendations and standards for aircraft disassembly and aircraft materials recycling (such as the developed for the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association - AFRA) and
iii) the experience and support of the biggest Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) entity in Europe, Teruel Airport (PLATA), to implement a cost-competitive and energy efficient solution for dismantling and recycling Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) components.

To do this, stakeholders of multiple areas of the aircraft designing, manufacturing and recycling value chain have collaborated during the project, through a Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) approach, to i) define the current framework, ii) co-construct an effective solution, iii) monitor the project progress, iv) define recommendations for an effective implementation and v) collaborate in the exploitation, communication and dissemination activities.

Thanks to this multiactor approach, HELACS includes the European Industry necessities when the current dismantling and recycling processes will be improved to properly manage CFRP components, now and in the future, by transferring innovative technologies and systems in two main pillars:
• Flexible and Portable Robotic Platform with machine learning capabilities and dedicated tools for CFRP cutting and debonding (i. Hydro-jet cutting tool for any CFRP and ii. Resistance welding [bonding/debonding] tool for thermoplastic CFRP, new comers in the aeronautic sector)
• Recycling and valorisation technologies based on optimised pyrolysis processes for improving carbon fibre recycling yield and sizing formulation for improving carbon fibre functionalities (i. sizing agents for mechanically enhancing of recycled carbon fibres and ii. sizing agents for enabling debonding capabilities in carbon fibres for thermoplastic CFRP (debonding via ultrasounds or induction heating technologies).

During HELACS, these processes have been developed, validated and demonstrated in the Teruel airport facilities to improve the recyclability of CFRP components by 40%, increase workforce safety and satisfaction by 70%, allow the value retention of recycled carbon fibres by 85%, reduce the CO2 emissions by 50% and increase the profitability by 30%. Finally, the exploitation and dissemination of HELACS results will mobilise more than 30 € million and generate more than 750 new direct jobs by 2030 by transferring the new dismantling and recycling processes to the European Aeronautic value chain.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Throughout the first 18 months, significant progress was made in the HELACS project, generating the foundations for the development of the tools that will allow us to dismantle thermoset and thermoplastic aircraft. In this way, the methodology (WP1), the robotic dismantling technologies (WP2) and the recycling of composite structures (WP3) have been deepened. The analysis of the different LCAs that will result from the HELACS project has also started. And a correct and constant dissemination has been maintained, allowing to place the project in the European research landscape.

In the time period between M18 and M36, the tasks started in the previous period were completed. The decommissioning technologies developed by Aitiip (AWJ cut and resistance bonding/debonding) were implemented and tested. In addition, the decommissioning software supporting these technologies was refined and implemented in collaboration with the previously mentioned decommissioning methods (WP2). Also, strategies for carbon fibre recovery from dismantled elements have been tested (G2C). Both pyrolysis and subsequent fibre recovery and processing have been successfully tested. From this recycled carbon fibre, the necessary processing has been carried out to obtain industrially usable thermoplastic material (CTB). With reference to the latter, the material has been tested and aeronautical parts have been produced by injection moulding.


The solution proposed by HELACS is built around two offerings which are the combination of several key exploitable results. The two offerings are: HELACS Robotic Solution and HELACS Recycling & Valorisation technologies. a detailed exploitation roadmap was elaborated for both offerings. The objective was to identify and plan activities to be performed after the end of the project, identifying concrete actions, responsibilities, setting-up KPIs and monitoring risks. The potential scalability of the solution was also evaluated analysing aspects such as validation, maturity, willingness to scale, impact and relevance of the organisation to scale.

The main objective of the communication strategy was to generate an effect on the collective imagination (of the target audience) by carrying out an exercise to promote the spirit and innovativeness of the project, with the intention that this audience ends up becoming another informative link, through which to inform about the advances of HELACS and raise awareness about its horizon of possibilities. These are the key messages that have been transmitted along the project lifetime, reinforced by several corporative actions such as online content, dissemination at events, posters and other elements.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The materials used by the aeronautics sector have been gradually evolving during the last decades increasing the use of composites like carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP). This material characterises by its lightweight, strength and moldability which has allowed the development of more cost-efficient aircrafts with less environmental impact.

The problem arises when these aeroplanes reaches their end-of-live and there is no appropriated technologies to process and recycle materials such as CFRP. According to (Scott, 2019) in general terms around 30% of produced carbon is not properly recovered and ends up as waste at the same time global demand keeps growing (65.000-80.000 metric tonnes per year) being the aerospace sector one of the main contributors of carbon fibre waste. Aeronautical manufacturers, dismantlers and recyclers are aware of CFRP recycling and valorisation opportunities and demand cost-effective sorting, re-using, and recycling processes for the dismantled aircrafts.

The solutions currently in the market are not efficient to handle this kind of material. They are not flexible enough to manage different tasks or the additional equipment and calibration procedures are long and expensive.

HELACS proposes safer and sustainable new aircrafts’ dismantling and recycling processes focussed on the recovery and valorisation of CFRP from composite pieces. HELACS results are expected to contribute to scrape rate reduction by 40%, increase workforce safety by 70% and increase satisfaction by generating higher qualify jobs and providing to them the required skills to face the new profiles for using the cost-competitive and green efficient technologies and systems, retain the intrinsic properties of the recycled carbon fibres by 85% and increasing its value by means of the demonstration of cutting-edge technologies and reduce CO2 emissions by 50% thanks to the introduction of energy efficient production processes and new design approaches that will reduce the waste of the new aircrafts.

HELACs Brochure

SEM image showing fibre size and aspect

Event picture. JEC 2022 and Advance Factories 2022

Size reduction result, pyrolysis result and nonwoven sample

impact of the type of sizing on the mechanical properties

Event picture. Transfiere 2022 and Material Forums