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COMPASS: A second life for aerospace and automotive waste

Did you know that tons of waste are generated each year in the aerospace and automotive industries? These materials, often considered trash, hide enormous potential.

The management of industrial waste, especially in such specialized sectors, poses unique challenges. High-tech composite materials, such as carbon fiber, and high-strength metals end up in landfills, representing a significant loss of resources and a considerable environmental impact.

COMPASS is a pioneering European project, funded by the Horizon Europe program, that seeks to change this reality. Through the development of innovative technologies, it allows us to recover high-value materials from discarded components, such as metal sheets and composite panels, and give them a new life in state-of-the-art products. 

The COMPASS project

The COMPASS project represents a significant milestone on the path to a more sustainable circular economy. By drastically reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills, it contributes to preserving natural resources and minimizing the environmental impact of these industries. Additionally, the creation of a digital passport for each component will allow tracking its life cycle and ensuring the quality and traceability of new manufactured products.

Aitiip, as part of this ambitious project that includes up to 13 entities, is responsible for developing advanced remanufacturing processes for thermoplastic composites. Thanks to innovations in pressing, heating, and tooling systems, we are able to transform end-of-life aircraft composite panels into new components for the aerospace industry and other sectors.

Thanks to these innovations, we can give a second life to panels dismantled from end-of-life aircraft by redesigning and manufacturing new elements or parts that can be reused in the aerospace sector or other sectors.

During the first 9 months of the project, Aitiip Technology Centre, in collaboration with the rest of the project partners, has worked on defining the requirements of the remanufacturing process for thermoplastic composites, the specifications of the dismantled parts, the designs for the demonstration products, and the parameters and variables necessary for their inclusion in the digital passport. These initial results have laid the foundation that will allow us to carry out the specific activities of conditioning and adapting remanufacturing processes, which are scheduled to begin in December 2024.

Without a doubt, the COMPASS project opens up a promising path towards a more sustainable future, in which waste is transformed into resources and the circular economy is consolidated as a production and consumption model. Aitiip, with its commitment to innovation and sustainability, is proud to contribute to this ambitious objective.

 

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