Recycling materials for a more sustainable transportation future
26 | 02 | 2024
Ceit participates in project EKOMUGI, led by Indumetal Recycling, to valorize waste from the transport sector and mobility electricity, ensuring a sustainable supply of raw materials.
EKOMUGI focuses on the recycling of critical raw materials of high added value, such as neodymium or nickel, from electric motors, batteries and metallized plastic parts of electric vehicles.
The European Commission forecasts that, if new policies towards a circular Economics are not implemented, the planet's resource consumption will triple by 2050. This requires reducing 90% of emissions from transport, which currently contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. While the electrification of transport is essential for climate neutrality, it implies significant changes in production and supply chains, particularly affecting regions such as the Basque Country, with a leading automotive components industry.
Dependence on strategic raw materials, such as neodymium or nickel, from outside the European Union poses a risk to economic stability and innovation in the sector. Against this backdrop, the new European Critical Raw Materials Act seeks to reduce this dependence and promote sustainable access to these resources. Among other measures, the law establishes that recycling must represent at least 15% of the consumption of these materials by 2030. In this context, project EKOMUGI proposes to investigate technological solutions to valorize waste from the transport sector and mobility, closing the life cycle of products and ensuring a sustainable supply of raw materials.
Recycling and recovery of critical raw materials
EKOMUGI focuses on the recycling of critical raw materials of high quality added value, such as neodymium or nickel, from electric motors, batteries and metallized plastic parts of electric vehicles. To achieve this, automation strategies will be employed in the waste separation and treatment processes, as well as innovative technologies for recycling and recovery of critical raw materials.
The consortium, led by Indumetal Recycling, is formed by the companies Ecomagnet, Innovation tree, Birziplastik, Fegemu, MIM-TECH, Global Factor, Maier and Obeki; and technology centers and agents of the Basque Science, Technology and Innovationnetwork , Ceit, Tecnalia, Gaiker, Cidetec, MTC and UPV-EHU.
Ceit will perform multiple tasks at project. On the one hand, he will collaborate in the development of automated systems for the dismantling of batteries and components with magnets by means of artificial vision techniques of selected electrical products. In addition, it will participate in the demagnetization and classification of these materials. Once the material has been obtained, it will be atomized by gas in the atomization plant at Ceit and will subsequently take part in the manufacture of the new magnets from the atomized powder and powder supplied by Ecomagnet, by means of a Metal Injection Moulding process. Finally, he will also participate in the characterization of the new motors equipped with second life magnets to evaluate their final performance.
A more sustainable future for transportation
The project EKOMUGI represents a significant step towards a more sustainable future for the transport sector and mobility. By promote the Economics circular and technological innovation, this initiative not only contributes to reducing resource consumption and carbon emissions, but also strengthens the sector's competitiveness in the face of global and local challenges.
