With the new Gabriele project Vecoplan turns more responsible than ever and aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The Gabriela Project kicked off to a successful start at the first major consortium meeting of the project partners, held at project coordinator APK AG’s Merseburg Germany headquarters. The impetus behind the project is the EU’s Green Deal, which is aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2050. A critical contribution to the implementation of the EU’s strategy is the recycling of plastics, including a push for the use of high levels of plastic recyclates in new products. Functionally integrated lightweight construction with a significant proportion of polymer-based materials is already playing a key role in CO2 reductions in the mobility sector. Incorporating recyclates in lightweight structures can significantly expand these potential reductions even more by reducing the use of primary raw materials and the associated emissions.
There have, however, been major reservations about the recycling potential of composites, such as the fibre-reinforced thermoplastics used in structurally relevant lightweight components. In particular, existing mechanical recycling processes are not able to successfully separate the composites from each other. It is still uncertain whether the shredded material can be directly used as a recyclate or whether the material composite must be completely dissolved. As a manufacturer of shredding technology, Vecoplan contributes its many years of expertise with the aim of processing the material in such a way that it can be fed directly into the downstream processes.
The Gabriela consortium project will study the recyclability of automotive supplier Kautex Textron’s Pentatonic high-voltage battery housings. Plastic recyclate proportions of up to 100% will be evaluated. APK AG’s new adaptive recycling technology Newcycling, which enables the production of high-quality recyclates, will be one of the technologies used in the project. As part of the project, the entire life cycle of a fibre-reinforced plastic battery housing will be examined, from material production to initial fabrication, through ageing during use, to recycling, and finally to reuse in the same component. To optimally exploit the potential of the new recycling paths, industry partners representing all stages of the production process and three German universities are participating in the project.
