New solutions for a sustainable automotive industry

Dashboards, car mats, door panels, seats, and front, center and rear pillars all have considerable potential for sustainability improvements. This is evident from the results of project SVIS, which were presented at the project's closing conference in the spring of 2024.

"It’s very exciting that we have results indicating that so many components can indeed be recycled, and that it's possible to reduce production waste to the extent demonstrated by the project," says Karin Lindqvist, researcher at RISE.

SVIS set an ambitious goal to cut the proportion of production waste by at least 50 percent. However, evaluating whether this goal has been met has been challenging, as some of the processes have not yet been implemented in production.

"We've seen promising results indicating that materials from vehicle interiors can be reused in new applications. But it's taking some time because the entire system is not yet fully established," says Sandra Tostar, Technical Leader in Polymer and Biobased Materials at Volvo Cars.

Not what we had expected

One type of component that, if defective or damaged, may need to be scrapped during production is the textile-covered pillars (situated between the passenger windows). The front, center and rear pillars are made of a high-value plastic, making them particularly interesting from a recycling perspective. As SVIS decided to examine them more closely, it resulted in one of the project's most unexpected outcomes.

"A student working on the project demonstrated that it was possible to grind down and recycle the plastic with the textile still attached, resulting in a material with good mechanical properties. This came as a surprise," says Sandra Tostar. 

Karin Lindqvist also found the result surprising:

"This was not what we had anticipated, but through analysis, we were able to identify where the textiles ended up and confirm that the materials could be mixed effectively," she says.

One's scrap, another's resource

Although it will take some time before the project’s solutions become industry standard, there is optimism among the participants. New EU legislation aimed at promoting circular solutions in vehicle design is on the horizon, and several other processes are already in progress. National Sweden, supplier of components for the automotive industry, has managed to recycle all production waste for its panels made in Gent. Furthermore, IAC Group is gearing up to produce a door panel made from 50 percent natural fibers, targeting zero percent production waste.

"One of the project's goals was for one company’s scrap to become raw material for another supplier. Scrap, or waste, occurs, for example, in door panel manufacturing. Next year, we will start a new production facility where door panels made from 50 % natural fibres will be produced. The production begins with rectangular sheets from which the door shape is pressed. This results in large amounts of cut waste, approximately 40 % of the panel's weight, says Markus Akervall, Advanced Engineering Manager at IAC Group, and continues:

"Our goal is to eliminate waste by reusing it in various ways. There are several methods to achieve this. For instance, we’ve tried making a plastic granule, a new compound, where the fibre cut waste is incorporated as a component. The waste is mixed with virgin materials, resulting in a fibre-reinforced PP granule. The results show that this granule maintains reasonable quality and can be used in the production of other vehicle components. So, we now have a plan to handle the waste that would otherwise have been incinerated."

Do the components measure up?

Modifying a component’s composition necessitates a range of tests to confirm that the new component meets the specifications. Given that these are vehicle components, safety is a critical consideration. In the previously mentioned pillars, the project experimented with altering the composition by including production waste, which required the new pillars to undergo crash testing.

"One of our engineers performed the tests based on our established standards and testing methods," says Sandra Tostar at Volvo Cars. "We received good results; they passed our tests."

Another conclusion drawn from the project was the importance of "one polymer solutions." Although the pillars’ mix of plastics produced good mechanical properties, it is generally much easier to recycle materials that consist of only one polymer.

"Our conviction that one polymer solutions represent the future has only been strengthened. During the project, we experimented with producing components in the trunk using only one polymer. If polymeric materials are properly managed, traceable, and free from contamination, they can be recycled repeatedly. I anticipate a reduction in material diversity on the polymeric side within the automotive industry moving forward, and I also hope to see increased collaboration across the entire value chain," says Joakim Fritz, Vice President and Business Development Manager at National Sweden. 

Collaboration – key to success

Fostering collaboration between equipment and material suppliers within the automotive industry was one of the project's objectives, and it was highly regarded by the participants. 

"The networking aspect was highly valuable, involving both the customer, Volvo, and the other participating companies. We had firms from various levels – Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), system suppliers (tier 1), component suppliers (tier 2), and material suppliers (tier 3) – which created a strong dynamic, enabling us to address issues both broadly and in depth," says Markus Akervall from IAC.

"This project has clearly shown us the importance of working with the entire value chain, and ideally across various industries. At the start, I don’t think we fully understood how to take into account the material’s future use in its next life. However, through the efforts we've made and the partnerships we've built, we now have a new perspective on what’s needed and how we should approach it," says Sandra Tostar and Caroline Möllerström Olsson, working as System Architect for Surface Materials at Volvo Cars.

The road ahead is long but promising

Although the project has ended, the collaboration continues in a new RISE-coordinated project, CIRCUS. This project builds on SVIS but places an even greater focus on circular flows. However, several of the solutions developed within SVIS are already mature for implementation in the industry, so what happens next?

"In research, the time required to implement results can vary. We are already working on life cycle analysis, which was part of the project, and we are also exploring ways to simplify the types of materials used in car mats. Another promising finding concerns the instrument panel carrier. If recycled, it produces a polypropylene (PP) with short glass fibres that could potentially be reused in cars, creating a closed loop. The new legislation proposal includes the instrument panel as a component that should be removed before scrapping a car, which would make the material available for recycling," says Sandra Tostar at Volvo Cars.

"Everyone is now waiting for the new EU legislation, the proposal for a new ELV directive, to be reviewed, which is anticipated to occur next year. The proposal stipulates that new cars must include at least 25 percent recycled plastic, with 6.25 percent sourced from a closed loop system. If the legislation is enacted, it will have a significant impact and greatly enhance the motivation to tackle these issues," says Karin Lindqvist at RISE.

Learn more about the CIRCUS project - Circular use of plastic in the automotive industry.