JLR Has Canny Solution to Aluminum Recycling

Jaguar Land Rover is adopting a World War II approach by using waste aluminum to build its cars in a bid to slash factory carbon-dioxide emissions.

Much of the raw material used to build the iconic Spitfire fighter aircraft, a key to the U.K.’s victory in the 1940 Battle of Britain air conflict over London and southeast England, came from recycling old domestic aluminum pots and pans. Now, as the industry reels in a global war against the COVID-19 pandemic, JLR is looking to build its products using aluminum waste from beverage cans, bottle tops and end-of-life vehicles.

The U.K.-based automaker claims by using the recycled metals in its premium cars of the future it will reduce production CO2 emissions up to 26%. Dubbed the REALITY aluminum project, the move is a crucial part of JLR’s Destination Zero mission to reduce carbon emissions and its ambition to make societies safer and environments cleaner through innovation.

So far, engineers have been able to use the recycled aluminum and mix it with a lower amount of primary aluminum to form a new and tested prototype alloy comparable to the existing JLR grade and quality.

Studies show aluminum is one of the world’s most widely recycled materials and can be melted down and reformed repeatedly without losing quality. Nearly 75% of all aluminum ever produced in the U.S. and Europe is still in use today, while the creation of recycled aluminum uses about 90% less energy than raw material production.

Typically, end-of-life vehicle scrap is exported overseas where it can be re-used for low-end applications. But new advanced separation technology has enabled it to be put back into the automotive process, helping close the loop and reduce the environmental impact.

Gaëlle Guillaume, lead project manager for REALITY at JLR, says: “This project has allowed us, for the first time, to recover premium automotive-grade aluminum from scrapped vehicles and re-use its unique properties. The potential of this on the production process is a reduction in CO2 impact as well as helping us re-use even more aluminum.

“As we move into an autonomous, connected and electrified future, with the potential of shared fleets being decommissioned en masse, it could allow Jaguar Land Rover to engineer this closed-loop recycling alloy into tight production schedules to further improve efficiency and environmental benefits.”