The Eurecat technology centre is coordinating the Salema project which draws on a circular economy model using waste and scrap as an alternative source of critical raw materials while also replacing them with aluminium alloy components for electric vehicles.
The project is to run four industrial pilot schemes to validate new aluminium alloys with five demonstrations of car parts in five industrial case studies “which delivers swift industrial deployment and start-up,” says Montserrat Vilaseca, director of Eurecat’s Metallic and Ceramic Materials Unit.
“The project brings a coordinated and cooperative approach to addressing some of the key challenges across the value chain,” she says. They include improving scrap sorting systems to turn it into valuable raw material and demonstrating the feasibility of replacing critical raw materials in alternative aluminium alloy systems.
Vilaseca adds that other project goals include developing recycled aluminium alloys “with better mechanical performance and streamlining high-pressure die casting, stamping and sheet extrusion processes promptly and cost-effectively” to ensure uptake of the alloys developed.
The Salema project is a consortium of fifteen partners from six European countries which is seeking to show that the measures they set out are competitive, technically feasible and support circular economy strategies and sustainability targets.
Eurecat is involved in the project through its Metallic and Ceramic Materials Unit, Waste, Energy and Environmental Impact (WEEI) Unit and Consultancy Unit.
