As a part of the Group and Volkswagen model, Volkswagen Slovakia is dedicated to attaining the environmental targets of the Zero Impact Factory technique and transferring towards local weather neutrality. To obtain the absolute best outcomes, the corporate regularly makes use of state-of-the-art applied sciences and actively participates in tasks which have a optimistic influence on the atmosphere. One of those is Aluminium Closed Loop, which was launched at Audi’s Neckarsulm website in 2017. The undertaking is at the moment operating at 4 of the Group’s websites the place press crops with a excessive proportion of aluminium components are situated (Audi in Neckarsulm, Audi in Ingolstadt, Audi Hungaria in Győr and Volkswagen Slovakia in Bratislava). Further areas will observe. In 2021, the Aluminium Closed Loop undertaking was accountable for a discount of greater than 195,000 tons* of CO2 on stability for the manufacturing of Audi fashions alone. Since its introduction in 2017, these complete financial savings have amounted to greater than 725,000 tons of CO2.
Bratislava website a part of the undertaking for a 12 months now
The press store on the Bratislava website joined the Group’s Aluminium Closed Loop undertaking precisely one 12 months in the past, in July 2021. Currently, a big proportion of the components for the our bodies of the SUV fashions produced in Bratislava (Volkswagen Touareg, Audi Q7, Audi Q8, Porsche Cayenne and Porsche Cayenne Coupé) are pressed right here. These embrace exterior pores and skin components, roofs, add-on components, hoods and tailgates, wings, doorways, window frames and extra.
The Aluminium Closed Loop is a profitable instance of closed-loop waste recycling that eliminates a lot of the energy-intensive manufacturing of main aluminium. “The high energy demand can be minimized, among other things, by using recycled materials, thereby contributing to a better environmental balance of our vehicle projects even before our own vehicle production begins,” explains Michaela Hletková Ploszeková, Head of the Environmental Department at Volkswagen Slovakia.
Processes guarantee a purity degree of 99.9 p.c
The physique components are constructed from aluminium and metal sheets which can be reduce from aluminium rolls, in any other case often known as coils, at Audi Hungaria‘s close by sister plant in Győr, earlier than being fashioned with urgent instruments on the press store in Bratislava. The aluminium is separated from the opposite stamping waste ensuing from the manufacturing of those components instantly on the road.
“Thanks to the separation and cleaning processes in the production process as well as at the recycler, the stamping waste from the press shop for recycling in the Aluminium Closed Loop achieves a purity level of 99.9 per cent. In the pilot year, the company managed to deliver more than 6,600 tons of aluminium offcuts to the Aluminium Closed Loop project despite fluctuating production due to the difficult global situation. We want to continue to gradually increase this share,” says Stanislav Novák, Head of the Press Shop Specialist Team.
Sustainable automobiles for transport
A contracted provider at the moment stills transports the separated aluminium waste from the press store by way of truck. In the subsequent few years, the plan is to begin utilizing different environmentally pleasant automobiles for this function. The waste will then be transported from Slovakia on to the Group’s aluminium provider in order that it may be processed and despatched again to the Bratislava press store as original-quality secondary aluminium or aluminium sheet, the place it’s going to then be used once more to supply physique components for SUVs.
*Audi understands net-zero carbon emissions to imply a state of affairs through which, after different potential discount measures have been exhausted, the corporate offsets the carbon emitted by Audi’s merchandise or actions and/or the carbon emissions that at the moment can’t be prevented within the provide chain, manufacturing, and recycling of Audi automobiles by means of voluntary offsetting tasks carried out worldwide. In this context, carbon emissions generated throughout a car’s utilization stage, i.e. from the second it’s delivered to the client, usually are not taken under consideration.
