Aircraft Recycling and Circular Economy

Research for Recycling and Circular Economy has a long tradition in Fraunhofer; e.g. are the Circular Economy Symposia in the early 90-ies and the new Aircraft Recycling Symposia starting 2013. What are the main tasks at the aircraft end of life?
1. decommissioning, 2. careful disassembly and 3. dismantling. For economic and ecological reasons, the aim is to achieve the highest possible percentage of reuse and recycling rate. In the case of recycling, a distinction is “differentiate between the use of secondary components and secondary raw materials”. Accordingly, a distinction can also be made between a component recycling quota and a material recycling quota. Current aircraft achieve a recycling rate, based on mass, of between 60 % and 85 %, and the aim is to achieve more. In the presentation several Clean Sky projects were introduced to develop and improve the recycling routes of the various materials used in aircraft components. The presentation will show how the projects are linked to a central cooperation recycling.