A compass for the circular economy

Recycling in the automotive industry is largely carried out by so-called "scrap shuttles" that shuttle between car manufacturers and voestalpine. This measure has already proven its worth in the circular economy, and researchers are now focusing on the reuse of high-quality production stages. In the transnational development project COMPASS, these are given a passport.

As part of COMPASS, the thirteen-strong project team is developing processes through which, for example, stamping cuttings or production scrap from aircraft and car manufacturing can be used as high-quality starting materials for new products. The sections are not to be remelted, but delivered from the collection containers to the new customers for further processing. 30% of the steel sheets and composite materials are to be further processed using the new process - this not only saves resources, but also additional CO₂ emissions into the material.

Passport please

The link between the car door or window cut-out and the new raw material is the "Digital Product Passport". This digital real-time ID card contains data on the identity, composition, history and condition of the cut-out steel sheets, for example. This informative "treasure trove" will be made available to cooperating customers for procurement on a secure website application. The high-quality scrap and rejects from selected voestalpine Automotive Components companies are already being collected and will be further processed in the future.

Concentrated power in a team

Experts from universities, research institutes and industry in Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Germany are working together to develop and drive forward these innovative processing methods. The project, which is funded by the European Union, aims to achieve a marketable result by December 2027.

Weiterführende Informationen auf: www.compass-horizon.eu