Breakthrough Recyclable Vehicle Composites Could Transform Transport

A Spanish research partnership is developing recyclable vehicle composites intended to reduce structural weight without sacrificing the performance demanded by transport applications.

Known as SUPERPAN, the project brings together composite manufacturer Birka Composites, plastics technology centre AIMPLAS and manufacturing specialist IDEKO. Their goal is to produce ultralight, multidirectionally reinforced panels using recyclable thermoplastic materials and increasingly automated production methods.

The work addresses a persistent engineering trade-off. Composite components can be substantially lighter than comparable metal structures, but many conventional versions are difficult and expensive to recover at the end of a vehicle’s life.

Why lighter vehicle structures matter

Reducing vehicle mass can lower the energy required for acceleration and movement. The potential benefit applies to combustion vehicles as well as electric models, where lower weight can help improve efficiency or reduce the battery capacity needed for a particular range.

Steel and aluminium remain essential automotive materials, but fibre-reinforced composites can offer high strength at a lower weight. This makes them attractive for structural profiles, panels and other components in which both mechanical performance and mass are important.

Lightweighting alone, however, does not guarantee a smaller environmental footprint. Material production, manufacturing energy, repairability, durability and end-of-life treatment must all be considered. SUPERPAN is therefore approaching the component as a complete lifecycle rather than concentrating solely on its weight.

Thermoplastics offer a different recycling route

Many established structural composites use thermosetting resins. Once cured, these materials form permanent chemical networks that cannot simply be melted and reshaped. Separating their fibres and resin can consequently require specialised mechanical, thermal or chemical processes.

SUPERPAN is instead developing panels based on thermoplastic matrices. Thermoplastics can be softened again with heat, potentially providing more recovery and reprocessing options than conventional thermoset systems.

This does not make every thermoplastic composite automatically or infinitely recyclable. Fibre type, contamination, additives, component design and the availability of suitable collection and processing infrastructure still determine whether recycling is technically and economically practical.

The project’s significance lies in designing recyclability into the material and production system from the outset.

Braided reinforcement for complex structural loads

Birka is contributing its patented Dual Pull Braiding process, which combines pultrusion with fibre braiding. In this continuous method, fibres are braided around longitudinal reinforcing yarns contained within a polymer matrix.

The longitudinal fibres provide strength along the component, while the surrounding braid adds reinforcement in additional directions. Manufacturers can adjust the braiding angle to match different load requirements and component geometries.

The process is intended to produce thin-walled profiles with high fibre content and more complex shapes than conventional unidirectional pultrusion can readily achieve.

The partners must still demonstrate that resulting components meet the relevant durability, impact, fire-safety and structural requirements for their intended applications. No production-vehicle adoption or independently verified weight reduction has yet been announced. Recyclable vehicle composites

Automation could improve consistency

SUPERPAN also combines the braiding process with ultraviolet-assisted curing of prepared fibre materials, automated controls and manufacturing sensors.

Information gathered along the production line could help operators identify variations, control quality and reduce defects. Greater automation may also lower dependence on manual work and make production more repeatable when moving from laboratory development to industrial volumes.

AIMPLAS is supporting material selection, characterisation, manufacturing development and recyclability assessment. IDEKO is contributing automation and industrial digitalisation expertise.

The project is led by Birka and forms part of Spain’s 2023 Public-Private Partnership programme, financed by the Spanish State Research Agency and co-funded by the European Union. AIMPLAS describes the project and the partners’ respective roles.

Automotive recycling is moving beyond metals

The timing is important because Europe’s vehicle-recycling framework is becoming more demanding.

New EU rules entered into force on August 13, 2026, although the main regulation will apply from September 1, 2028. They introduce mandatory recycled-plastic content of 15% in new vehicles from 2032, increasing to 25% from 2036. They also promote vehicle designs that facilitate dismantling, reuse and material recovery. The European Commission outlines the regulation and implementation timeline.

A separate automotive recycling study illustrates why plastics and composites require particular attention. BMW and its Car2Car partners reported that advanced sorting and processing increased their experimental “Car2Car rate” across five material groups from 6% to 51% under expanded research conditions.

The strongest results involved steel, aluminium and copper. BMW said considerable technical challenges remain for plastics and glass because of mixed material structures, demanding quality specifications and the need for carefully tailored sorting and processing systems. BMW published the project findings on August 10, while an August 17 industry report summarised their significance.

SUPERPAN is working at a different stage of the cycle: designing composite components that may be easier to process before they reach dismantlers and recyclers.

What SUPERPAN still needs to prove

The project presents a promising technical direction, but its environmental and commercial value will ultimately depend on measurable results.

Important evidence will include:

• Weight savings compared with equivalent metal parts
• Mechanical performance and long-term durability
• Energy consumption during manufacturing
• The percentage of material that can actually be recovered
• Properties retained after recycling
• Production speed and cost at industrial scale
• Availability of dismantling and recycling infrastructure

A lifecycle assessment will also be necessary to determine whether lower operational energy and improved recovery outweigh the impacts of producing fibres, polymers and finished components.

If those results are favourable, recyclable vehicle composites could help manufacturers address lightweighting, production efficiency and circularity together. SUPERPAN is not yet proof that the problem has been solved, but it is a practical attempt to redesign both the material and the way it is manufactured.

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