April 27, 2023- Aluminum producer Constellium SE signed an agreement with Renault Group to establish a closed-loop recycling process for the Megane E-Tech Electric vehicle. Renault Group has developed a closed-loop recycling process to bring manufacturing scrap from the stamping process directly back to Constellium, resulting in a reduced CO2 footprint. Based on best practices to avoid mixing 5000- and 6000-series alloys and to compact scrap for optimal logistics at Renault Group, the closed-loop process will recycle these alloys, so that they can be reused in Renault Group’s production without any loss of properties, and overall with no downcycling.
For the Megane E-Tech Electric, Constellium supplies aluminum auto body Sheet for outer panels from its Surfalex product range, combining high strength with excellent surface quality and hemming properties, and for the inner panels from the forming optimized Formalex product range.
“We are very excited to continue to collaborate with Renault Group on sustainable and efficient aluminium solutions. Together we will contribute to the circular economy within the automotive industry, while also helping both companies to meet their individual sustainability targets,” said Hervé Ribes, director for technical customer service automotive for Constellium’s Packaging & Automotive Rolled Products business unit.
“We are delighted to expand these activities with Constellium as part of our journey to carbon neutrality," said Yvan Chastel, expert leader for metals and processes at Renault Group. “The closed-loop recycling we had first established for the former vehicles manufactured in Douai are now further optimized for the production volumes of the all-new Megane E-Tech Electric. This collaboration further demonstrates our capacity to be at the forefront of decarbonizing mobility by reducing CO2 emissions throughout the life cycle of our vehicles.”
Constellium and Renault Group have been working jointly on R&D projects for alloys and solutions that enable closed-loop recycling since 2021, such as in the ISA3 collaborative initiative with ESI Group, Institut de Soudure (Welding Institute), and the University of Lorraine.
Recycling is a key pillar of Constellium’s sustainability targets for 2030, and the closed-loop partnership with Renault Group supports the journey towards achieving them. The company is substantially expanding its recycling capacity, with a €130 million investment for a new recycling center at its facility in Neuf-Brisach, France, which is expected to provide an additional ~130kt of recycling capacity by 2025.
Constellium supplies aluminum flat-rolled and extruded products for one in four vehicles produced in Europe and the U.S.
