Car2Car funding project develops technologies for optimized recycling of end-of-life vehicles

20.04.2023 | Initiative Automotive

[Translate to Englisch:] Logo der Förderung durch den Bundestag

The Car2Car project is receiving €6.4 million in funding under the "New Vehicle and System Technologies" funding guideline of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection. Car2Car focuses on recycling the materials steel, aluminum, glass, copper and plastic from end-of-life vehicles. Innovative dismantling and automated sorting processes will make it possible in the future to use the recyclable materials from end-of-life vehicles in the production of new automobiles to a much greater extent than before. Representatives of the recycling industry and raw material processors as well as scientists, together with the BMW Group as consortium leader, are researching how the quality of secondary raw materials obtained from the recycling of end-of-life vehicles can be increased. Another component of the funded project is an end-to-end evaluation of both the ecological and economic effects of closed-loop recycling of the materials under investigation.

 

Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung GmbH (SZMF) is involved in the Car2Car project on behalf of Salzgitter AG and its Group subsidiaries with the following work items:

 

  •    As part of the project, end-of-life vehicle shredder scrap available in the project is collected from DEUMU Deutsche Erz- und Metall-Union GmbH (DEUMU).
  •    This scrap is then melted at Peiner Träger GmbH (PTG) and cast into slabs.
  •    These are further processed at Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH (SZFG) into steels typical of the automotive industry.
  •    The forming and joining characterization of the steel is carried out at SZMF.

The steel, which contains a high proportion of end-of-life Car2Car scrap, is then reused by BMW to produce automotive components.

The route described here has already been followed since 2020, but without the use of end-of-life vehicle scrap. At PTG, slabs for the production of low-CO2 flat steel are made from 100% scrap. In this way, customers such as BMW, which is supplied with low-CO2 steel, can already gain initial experience today.

The commissioning of the electric arc furnace ordered as part of the SALCOS® - SAlzgitter Low CO2 Steelmaking transformation project will enable Salzgitter to produce low-CO2 flat steel on an industrial scale. This is also accompanied by an increasing demand for high-quality scrap. To ensure that the long-term increase in demand can be met, the findings from the Car2Car project can point the way forward.

The Car2Car project is made up of the following collaborative partners:
1.    BMW AG
2.    TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institut MVTAT
3.    TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institut IEST
4.    TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institut IGT
5.    Helmholtz-Institut Freiberg für Ressourcentechnologie am HZDR
6.    Technische Universität München, Professur Circular Economy
7.    Technische Universität München, Lehrstuhl fml
8.    Technische Universität München, Institut iwb
9.    Scholz Recycling GmbH
10.    STEINERT UniSort GmbH
11.    Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung GmbH
12.    thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG
13.    Aurubis AG
14.    Novelis Deutschland GmbH
15.    OETINGER Aluminium GmbH
16.    Pilkington Automotive Deutschland GmbH

 

Photo of the project participants of Car2Car
Project meeting March 2023 at company Scholz Recycling in Espenhain