Constellium SE is leading a new R&D initiative called “Close the Loop,” which aims to develop technologies to dismantle, sort, and remelt wrought aluminum from end-of-life vehicles for recycling and processing into new products to be used in future vehicles. The project is in partnership with recycling companies in France, including Indra (an automotive recycler), GALLOO (a scrap metal recycler), and MTB Recycling (a metal shredding and sorting company). The project is funded in part by ADEME, the French environmental agency, as part of the France 2030 program.
“We are proud to lead the Close the Loop project and look forward to further demonstrating Constellium’s commitment to providing low carbon footprint aluminum, as well as the benefits and feasibility of circularity, to our automotive customers,” said Ludovic Piquier, senior vice president, Manufacturing Excellence and chief technical officer, of Constellium. “We believe this project will further strengthen aluminum’s position in the automotive market as manufacturers and consumers demand more sustainable mobility solutions.”
Recycling aluminum requires only 5% of the energy used to produce primary metal, and emits 95% fewer GHG emissions. As the amount of aluminum on end-of-life vehicles continually increases thanks to automakers’ growing use of the lightweight material over the past 20 years, it is essential that the metal is efficiently recycled and repurposed into new vehicles, preserving its value and contributing to a circular economy.
Under part of the Close the Loop project, several options, including full vehicle shredding and dismantling aluminum-rich components, will be assessed both technically and economically. New aluminum automotive body sheet alloys with increased tolerance to impurities will be prototyped at Constellium’s C-TEC research and development center, which is also investigating new technologies to decarbonize melting operations.
Constellium is a leading full-service supplier of rolled and extruded aluminum solutions for the global automotive market and is collaborating across the value-chain to help drive the low-carbon transition and promote a circular economy. The company has conducted other automotive projects, such as the Circular and Constant Aluminium (CirConAl) project to improve scrap management and the ALIVE Project to develop new aluminum battery enclosures for electric vehicles.