Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RecAL (Recycling technologies for circular ALuminium)
Période du rapport: 2024-01-01 au 2025-06-30
Aluminium is an indispensable cornerstone of European manufacturing with numerous applications in various sectors such as transportation, construction, packaging, and consumer goods. Owing to its inherent lightweighting potential, an increased use of aluminium is a prerequisite to meet the demands of the Green Deal in the transportation and construction industries. Primary production of aluminium has a substantial environmental impact, causing almost 2% of the global human-caused emissions in 2020 (1 billion metric tons of CO2-equivalents ). In addition to long-term environmental issues caused by primary production residues (red mud), the largest impact is generated by the high energy consumption of alumina reduction. Recycling of existing End of Life (EoL) and production aluminium uses only 5% of that energy, making it key to realize the material’s global decarbonisation potential .
The attractive technological features of aluminium alloys are obtained through a large variety of alloying elements, depending on needs of individual applications. However, once aluminium has component metals mixed with it to create an alloy, it is virtually impossible to separate the elements again. Except for single closed-loop industries (beverage cans, some extrusion products), EoL scrap today contains a mixture of different alloys and thereby impurity elements. This mixing of EoL alloy classes leads inevitably to significant downcycling, mostly into robust low- to medium performance cast alloys. They cannot be used in the largest fraction of modern aluminium products which are wrought products, because these have inherent low tolerance for impurity elements.
Downcycling practice has been a successful strategy in the past, due to the high demand for cast aluminium alloys to produce combustion engines, but the shift towards electrified transportation will dry up this universal recycling “sink”. Prognoses estimate an amount of “surplus scrap” (i.e. scrap unsuitable for re-use with current technologies and alloys) of 6 million tons by 2030 and 18.3 million tons by 2050, causing more than 260 million tons of CO2-equivalents by primary substitution. The European aluminium industry is dominated by downstream industries (i.e. manufacturing), with very limited natural resources for primary production. This means that Europe possesses a rich potential of secondary resources with an expected share of 49% of total aluminium production by 2050. To fully exploit this resource, all stages of circular production must achieve substantial progress:
- Alloy designs must increase their impurity tolerance at level or superior performance
- Sorting and dismantling of EoL scraps must exploit the benefits of digitization and robotic assistance to create waste (recyclate) streams with vastly enhanced purities
- Production chains must be adapted to exploit the potential of secondary resources
The attractive technological features of aluminium alloys are obtained through a large variety of alloying elements, depending on needs of individual applications. However, once aluminium has component metals mixed with it to create an alloy, it is virtually impossible to separate the elements again. Except for single closed-loop industries (beverage cans, some extrusion products), EoL scrap today contains a mixture of different alloys and thereby impurity elements. This mixing of EoL alloy classes leads inevitably to significant downcycling, mostly into robust low- to medium performance cast alloys. They cannot be used in the largest fraction of modern aluminium products which are wrought products, because these have inherent low tolerance for impurity elements.
Downcycling practice has been a successful strategy in the past, due to the high demand for cast aluminium alloys to produce combustion engines, but the shift towards electrified transportation will dry up this universal recycling “sink”. Prognoses estimate an amount of “surplus scrap” (i.e. scrap unsuitable for re-use with current technologies and alloys) of 6 million tons by 2030 and 18.3 million tons by 2050, causing more than 260 million tons of CO2-equivalents by primary substitution. The European aluminium industry is dominated by downstream industries (i.e. manufacturing), with very limited natural resources for primary production. This means that Europe possesses a rich potential of secondary resources with an expected share of 49% of total aluminium production by 2050. To fully exploit this resource, all stages of circular production must achieve substantial progress:
- Alloy designs must increase their impurity tolerance at level or superior performance
- Sorting and dismantling of EoL scraps must exploit the benefits of digitization and robotic assistance to create waste (recyclate) streams with vastly enhanced purities
- Production chains must be adapted to exploit the potential of secondary resources
The RecAL project has a set of four specific objectives, which are implemented through the operative work package clusters (WPCs)
Objective (WPC) A: Develop, validate and demonstrate a digital circularity platform for the entire aluminium recycling value chain both within and between individual company production lines.
Objective (WPC) B: Enable leaps in scrap purity by advanced sorting and refining technologies for EoL aluminium and full circularity of process by-products
Objective (WPC) C: Maximising the impurity tolerance of next-generation alloy designs in high-volume and high-impact industries
Objective (WPC) D: Providing paradigm shifts along the aluminium processing value chain, fostering FAIR data architectures and rapidified technology uptake and transparent value chains
In the first project period from M01 - 18, the most notable technical achievements towards the above objectives have been
- Development of a functionality model of the RecAL-Hub and refined through comprehensive use case evaluation and stakeholder feedback
- Melting tests and characterization of aluminium scrap batches from the industrial sectors Automotive and Construction
- Upcycling of 40 t of salt slag to salt dust and pre-melted synthetic slag.
- Design of a 2-step process for upgrading the evaporated salt dust into clean and recrystallized salt.
- Set up scenarios and pilot lines for improved dismantling and scrap sorting.
- Analysis of average scrap composition available to the EU market including potential variations regarding impurity elements to cover a larger range of secondary aluminium content and gain flexibility in scrap selection.
- Definition of a set of expert-level tools, aiming for a paradigm shift in the circular Aluminium value chain incl. rapidified LCA and material testing techniques, Design of Simulation Experiment methods and foundations for implementing the Digital Product Passport.
Objective (WPC) A: Develop, validate and demonstrate a digital circularity platform for the entire aluminium recycling value chain both within and between individual company production lines.
Objective (WPC) B: Enable leaps in scrap purity by advanced sorting and refining technologies for EoL aluminium and full circularity of process by-products
Objective (WPC) C: Maximising the impurity tolerance of next-generation alloy designs in high-volume and high-impact industries
Objective (WPC) D: Providing paradigm shifts along the aluminium processing value chain, fostering FAIR data architectures and rapidified technology uptake and transparent value chains
In the first project period from M01 - 18, the most notable technical achievements towards the above objectives have been
- Development of a functionality model of the RecAL-Hub and refined through comprehensive use case evaluation and stakeholder feedback
- Melting tests and characterization of aluminium scrap batches from the industrial sectors Automotive and Construction
- Upcycling of 40 t of salt slag to salt dust and pre-melted synthetic slag.
- Design of a 2-step process for upgrading the evaporated salt dust into clean and recrystallized salt.
- Set up scenarios and pilot lines for improved dismantling and scrap sorting.
- Analysis of average scrap composition available to the EU market including potential variations regarding impurity elements to cover a larger range of secondary aluminium content and gain flexibility in scrap selection.
- Definition of a set of expert-level tools, aiming for a paradigm shift in the circular Aluminium value chain incl. rapidified LCA and material testing techniques, Design of Simulation Experiment methods and foundations for implementing the Digital Product Passport.
RecAL will advance 14 so called CATs (Circular Amplification Technologies) and integrate them into a digital, socio-technical ecosystem - the aluminium hub for circularity. This centerpiece enables direct collaboration of all stakeholders, promoting full-scale industrial and technological symbiosis while closing resource and data loops at both, regional and European scales. The RecAL HUB ambition begins from TRL3-4 aims for a proof-of-concept TRL6 prototype at the end of the project.
RecAL CATs are innovative recycling technologies that will be developed from TRL4-5 to min. TRL 6 throughout the project. Thay target a variety of goals along the entire value chain, such as improvements to the capture, separation, and circular reuse of aluminium recyclates and development of sustainable, recycling friendly alloys. Ultimately, the RecAL Circularity HUB will be demonstrated via three use-cases, that resemble and quantify the impact on future closed value loops from Aluminium EoL-procurement to remanufacturing.
RecAL CATs are innovative recycling technologies that will be developed from TRL4-5 to min. TRL 6 throughout the project. Thay target a variety of goals along the entire value chain, such as improvements to the capture, separation, and circular reuse of aluminium recyclates and development of sustainable, recycling friendly alloys. Ultimately, the RecAL Circularity HUB will be demonstrated via three use-cases, that resemble and quantify the impact on future closed value loops from Aluminium EoL-procurement to remanufacturing.