Airline model shows Achilles heel
Economical and sustainable approaches complementary to carbon-neutral novel propulsion systems are needed to secure the reduction of aviation’s environmental impact across the entire supply chain. Circular aviation is claiming its stake, and stakeholders from research and industry of the European aviation and aerospace sectors met virtually on June 8, to identify its opportunities and challenges. Their message: think about end-of-life already in the aircraft design stage. How can we bring such thinking closer to the aviation´s supply chain?
‘Circular Aviation for Green Growth‘ was a virtual 2021 EU Green Week Partner Event, that attracted almost 200 participants. The panellists addressed the trends in research, key enabling technologies, and business cases attributing to reduction of aviation’s environmental impact beyond in-flight operations. The panellists represented Association of European Research Establishments in Aeronautics (EREA), the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE), AIRBUS, CleanSky Joint Undertaking, and Jet Maintenance Solutions. The SUSTAINair coordinator Jürgen Roither of AIT (Austria), and Stein Janssen of KU Leuven (Belgium) split the effort of moderating the two sessions, bridged by the welcome of the project officer for aviation at CINEA, Hugues Felix.
To reap the benefits of circular approaches, the panellists suggested to focus on the need to close the loop for aerospace materials by coordinating across the aviation supply chain and even across industries.
Among the identified challenges, the most prominent are the lack of transparency and traceability of materials and an aviation-specific database allowing complex LCA models. The latter is currently under construction by EcoDesign of Clean Sky Joint Undertaking.
Digitalization permeates the conversation around advanced materials, their recyclability, and manufacturing in the same manner as when talking about onboard operations and air traffic management operations. Smart materials which may monitor their own structural health and predictive maintenance are within the research and innovation scope of the featured H2020 projects: MORPHO, DOMMINIO and SUSTAINair. Together with the EcoDesign transversal activity of Clean Sky Joint Undertaking led by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the mentioned projects develop technologies enabling scalable industrial recycling of composites and new materials.
History has taught us that aerospace innovations find their way in other industries. Recycling of advanced materials or re-usability of high-quality materials are technological spill-overs that can fuel sustainable breakthroughs in other industries leading to greater resilience of economic activity.
