Audi launches the closed steel cycle: 12% of the metal of the doors of the A4 comes from end-of-life vehicles and in the future the same will be true for glass, plastic and aluminum
Audi launched the pilot project material buckleexperimentation in Ingolstadt for the integration of closed material cycles in industrial processes. The steel of end-of-life cars was transformed together with 15 other companies into a new secondary steel with high quality standards to produce new parts for the Audi A4.
EUROPEAN REGULATIONS REQUIRE STATES TO RECYCLE 95% OF CARS
Audi claims that to date, only a fraction of materials used in car production it came from end-of-life vehicles. steel, for example, after the process of recycling abandoned cars, it was destined for the construction sector. Audi intends to change this custom by returning to car production the raw materials that can be recovered from cars withdrawn from circulation without compromising the quality of the materials associated with the recycling phase. It should be recalled that European Directive 2000/53/EC, which came into force in 2015, already obliges Member States to recover at least 95% the weight of the components of the vehicles to be sent for demolition.
MORE SUSTAINABLE AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTION WITH SECONDARY RAW MATERIALS
“The project material buckle is the emblem of our commitment to make the highly effective recovery of raw materials from vehicles come to the end of life”he pretends Markus DuesmanCEO of Audi AG. “The objective is to recover as many materials as possible, while guaranteeing a high level of quality so that they can be reintroduced into the production cycle. This way we will save resources and reduce the carbon footprint of our products. In the long term, access to secondary subjects contribute to the security and regularity of supplies”.
HOW RECYCLED STEEL IS REUSED IN AUDI PRODUCTION
The Audi pilot project involves Audi A4 production in Ingolstadt and will end in April. Initially, reels were produced with a content of secondary steel equal to 12%which will be gradually increased. The manufacturer plans to integrate the resource into the molding department of the Ingolstadt plant to produce a large part of the interior door sheet. With the aim of gradually increasing the recycling of materials from end-of-life cars, Audi integrates recyclability from the project stage with the “Design for Circularity” philosophy: the components must be designed from the outset in order to be easily separated at the end of life, differentiated and sent for recycling.
AUDI: BEYOND RECYCLED STEEL, EVEN GLASS FROM 2022
In October 2022, as part of the pilot project material buckleThey were a hundred dismantled vehicles, including some prototypes. Thanks to the targeted dismantling of the components, it was possible to obtain high-quality secondary materials, in particular plastics, to be sent for recycling. After disassembly, the car bodies were crushed and differentiated by type of material, for example steel, aluminum and synthetics. In the coming years, Audi says it wants to increase the proportion of secondary materials used in production. An example is the recycling of damaged car glass which, as of spring 2022, involves the use of secondary glass for the manufacture of the Audi Q4 etron – according to data declared by Audi – with a 30% CO2 savings in relation to the use of the raw material.
Source : Sicur Auto
