Closing the loop in electrical manufacturing

Embracing circularity creates challenges and opportunities

Global economic development and population growth and have created a critical need to adopt a more sustainable and ‘natural’ approach to consumption. Creating a circular economy offers a solution by minimising waste and maximising resource value throughout product lifecycles.

Defining circularity

Standards for the circular economy in energy-related products were produced by the European Committee for Standardisation and European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CEN-CENELEC). The series EN 4555X?encompasses durability, the ability to remanufacture, repair and reuse components or the entire product, and upgrade. It also considers recyclability, recoverability, the use of recycled materials and only deploying critical raw materials where they are really needed.

The standards revolve around three top level European Commission aims: extending product lifetime; the ability to re-use components or recycle materials from products at end-of-life; and the use of re-used components and/or recycled materials in products.

What goes around

The primary benefits of implementing circularity in the electric manufacturing sector are largely environmental. Circularity helps combat resource depletion by reducing the reliance on extracting finite materials. Additionally, manufacturing secondary materials typically has a significantly lower environmental impact compared to producing materials from virgin resources, contributing to a more sustainable and efficient production process.

According to Draghi and von der Leyen, implementing a circular economy at a local level generates jobs through repair, reuse, and recycling services, thereby contributing to a country's economic growth.

For instance, in the UK, between 2014 and 2019, nearly 90,000 new jobs?were created in the circular economy sector, bringing total employment in this area to over half a million. Furthermore, projections suggest that with ambitious policies focussed on reuse, repair and remanufacturing, over 450,000 additional jobs could be created across the UK by 2035.

A circular economy can also be seen as a geo-political tool. Metals are traded commodities, so relying on imports comes with its own risks. Reducing this reliance fosters regional or national material sovereignty.

Certain metals, such as steel, copper and aluminium, are crucial to regulatory ambitions like the green energy transition. Focussing on circularity can improve accessibility to them on a regional or continental level, offering the option to trade with other regions in times of surplus.

The objective to close the loop at national and regional levels also nurtures technological innovation focussed on material recovery at end-of-life.

Should we reduce product lifespan?

In theory, a circular economy mindset would favour making product lifespan as long as possible. However, in domains where technology is progressing and improving the products’ energy efficiency and recyclability of the materials used in manufacturing is high, a long lifespan hampers the uptake of this new technology.

In some cases, such as for motors and transformers, it might be more efficient to recall products before end of life and replace them with more efficient units. Because the materials used are highly recyclable, it’s better to re-use them in new products that are more energy efficient.

Many companies are already embracing recycling and circular practices. For example, a partnership between ABB?and Stena Recycling?is ensuring that end-of-life machines are efficiently recycled, with metals reused in new European products. ABB claims its large motors and generators are 98 per cent recyclable, with the remaining two per cent of materials suitable for incineration with heat recovery.

By focussing on the end-of-life management of these machines, companies can reduce environmental impact and ensure equipment is regularly upgraded. ABB also works with Stena Recycling on its transformers, and says it plans to have over 80 per cent of all its products and solutions based on a circular approach by 2030.

Recycling

Multiple recycling sites and secondary smelters exist in Europe and around the world. For instance, Germany features specialised recycling centres like Elektro-Recycling Nord in Hamburg for appliances and electronic waste, and Cablo in Berlin and the Ruhr area, which focusses on separating metal and plastic, especially from cables.

However, recycling end-of-life products can be challenging due to collection issues, complex material separation, and fragmented global recycling streams. For example, motors often face varying practices: large and medium motors are recycled for copper, small motors are often exported, and very small motors in appliances frequently end up in landfills.

Material separation complicates recycling, such when handling composites like the cast resin in dry transformers. Global markets and inconsistent EU e-waste classifications further hinder effective regulation.

To combat this, collection could be optimised through Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs). These are entities established by manufacturers to fulfil the collection, recycling and waste disposal of their products. This can increase material recovery rates and shift the environmental and financial burden of waste management away from governments and consumers.

Closing the loop

Producers and manufacturers could develop further guidance on how to dispose and dismantle their products. In addition to PROs, manufacturers can develop business models to recover the end-of-life products of their customers and properly recycle them, which creates value-retention opportunities.

At the same time, design engineers can collaborate with recycling companies to develop designs that facilitate dismantling and separation at end-of-life. Design engineers can also collaborate with the metals industry to deepen their knowledge of the metallurgical properties of commonly used materials like copper. This would help in developing designs in which metals are combined with materials that are easy to separate in the smelting and refining process.

In nature, each organism occupies an individual niche. It borrows materials from its environment and returns them at the end of its life. The same can be true for electrical manufacturing, and trade shows such as CWIEME Berlin?help by enabling constructive discussions between all players of the value chain — both upstream and downstream of manufacturers — creating a more sustainable, circular economy.