Circularise joins the COMPASS project to drive circular economy aerospace and automotive sectors

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, 14 February 2024 - Circularise, a traceability platform for supply chain transparency has joined the COMPASS project. A collaborative venture between 13 leading European partners, the project aims to revolutionise the remanufacturing of sheet metal and thermoplastic composites, setting new sustainability benchmarks in the aerospace and automotive sectors.

The Future of Aerospace and Automotive Recycling:

• By 2040, the aerospace industry anticipates replacing over 15,000 aircraft, with OEMs aiming to recycle 90% of components.
• In the same period, the automotive sector will have to manufacture vehicles designed to be "recyclable" for 85% of their weight.

This translates to millions of tonnes of material that will need recycling – a volume currently beyond the existing capacity of the recycling industry. To achieve these targets, the adoption of innovative recycling strategies is imperative.

The COMPASS project, funded under the EU’s HORIZON EUROPE program, aims to address the challenge of efficiently recycling and remanufacturing components at the end of their lifespan. By employing advanced remanufacturing techniques, COMPASS will extend the life of these components, minimising the need for raw material extraction and reducing the environmental impact of new component production. The project's technical objectives include: 

• the creation of a digital component passport for data storage, 
• the development of sensors and data acquisition for a digital twin of the component, 
• and the creation of tools for efficient data updating and usage. 

Circularise, a leading provider of digital product passports for traceability and secure data exchange in industrial supply chains, will be spearheading the data transfer, security, and sharing work within the COMPASS project. Data crucial for remanufacturing processes will streamline the dismantling process, ensure efficient extraction of sheet metal and composite panels, improve quality control, and optimise operations.

Circularise’s founder, Mesbah Sabur, emphasised the importance of interoperability in projects like COMPASS. He said, “Interoperability is the lifeblood of executing a circular approach in complex supply chains, as our work with the COMPASS project shows. Our Digital Product Passports capture real-time information about component performance and history, enabling intelligent remanufacturing strategies. Our ultimate goal is to build a solution that ensures nothing turns into waste due to a lack of information." 

The PROFACTOR research team, coordinator of the COMPASS project, stated, “The digital tools developed in COMPASS will make disassembly processes efficient for extracting sheet metal or panels from decommissioned aircraft or cars, where relevant component information will be collected and stored in the digital passport during its life-cycle”.

The COMPASS project aims to enable the remanufacturing of approximately 30% of sheet metal parts and thermoplastic composite panels. By 2035, this could yield €60 million annually in metal alloys and €500 million in composites, significantly contributing to resource conservation.

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