With the use of artificial intelligence, the chairs from Flokk have become 200 grams lighter. This saves energy, reduces the use of materials and makes chairs cheaper in the store.
"The CCS footprint has decreased from 35 to 14 kg per chair by using recycled aluminium. An annual production of 30,000 to 60,000 chairs means cuts of up to 1,260 tonnes of CCS annually," says Ole Runar Myhr, researcher and professor from Hydro.
The UN's goal is to prevent global warming from rising more than 1.5 degrees, to avoid serious consequences such as extreme weather, loss of biodiversity and food shortages. Cutting CCS emissions in industry is essential to achieve this goal by 2050.
Great need for climate-friendly production of aluminium
The world's aluminium production has almost doubled in ten years. Aluminium is a key industry in Norway, used in everything from cars to furniture and packaging. Thanks to its strength and lightness, the metal is in high demand, especially in the transport sector. Aluminum is also ideal for recycling.
As aluminium production increases, we get more "post consumer scrap". Consumer waste is aluminium that has been used, for example in an aluminium soda can.
With two per cent of the world's production, Norway has an important role in an industry that is growing rapidly and with an increasing need for environmentally friendly methods.
Long-term research provides major societal benefits
In the AdaptAl innovation project, Hydro, Flokk, Raufoss Teknologi, IDT Solutions, NTNU and Sintef are collaborating to develop a technology that will ensure more sustainable production and better utilisation of aluminium and consumer waste.
The goal is to reduce CCS emissions by optimising production, increasing the proportion of "post consumer scrap", and thus reducing energy and material use, which in turn leads to lighter products. This, in turn, can ensure cheaper products in the store. The project has received NOK 8.7 million from the Research Council of Norway.
"The technology is based on over 30 years of research in which we have collaborated closely with Sintef and NTNU and with significant funding from the Research Council of Norway. In other words, there is a long and targeted research effort behind it," Myhr explains.
"The long-term research has been crucial in developing the technology used in the AdaptAl project."
Digital Twin: the road to optimisation
In AdaptAl, the digital twin PRO3 is used to optimise the production process, including recycling of the aluminum alloys.
"PRO3 is a digital tool that can predict and improve production efficiency. The tool takes production costs and CCS emissions into account, and has the capacity to ensure that products based on post-consumer waste meet the ever-increasing demands for quality from customers," says Trond Furu, head of research in the Hydro Corporate Technology Office.
Furu strongly believes that this digital tool can help us manage and utilise an increasing proportion of consumer waste in the future.
In practice, PRO3 will analyse data such as temperature, pressure and chemical composition to recommend adjustments in the production process. For example, if the system notices that a particular alloy can be produced more efficiently at a higher temperature, it will suggest this change. This ensures that every product — whether it's a chair or a car component — will be both sturdy and reliable, as well as manufactured with the least possible environmental impact at a lower cost.
Investing in sustainable materials
Aluminium has a long process chain, which in Hydro starts with the production of alumina in Brazil. A lot of energy is used the first time we produce aluminium, but aluminium is very suitable for recycling. When aluminium is remelted, only five per cent of the energy is used compared to the production of the virgin metal.
Regardless of whether the end product is a car part or a chair, there are strict requirements. For example, if the geometric shape is not accurate enough for the product requirements required, the part often has to be scrapped and sent for recycling. This can mean major financial losses for manufacturing companies.
Hydro and its partners are therefore working to develop the PRO3 technology, which means that more aluminium parts make it through the eye of the needle and end up as a finished product that meets the requirements of customers. This in turn contributes to fewer parts having to be scrapped.
"All production processes are associated with variations, and the temperature in the different processes will, for example, vary from one production to the next. With PRO3, we do calculations using advanced mathematical models, to see if production is going well or not. Since the digital twin can predict if something goes wrong, we can make small adjustments along the way, and thus get the right result in the end," says Myhr.
Canteen chair with record-low CCS footprint
The furniture manufacturer Flokk, in collaboration with Hydro, SINTEF and NTNU, has used the digital twin PRO3 to design a canteen chair in aluminium. The goal was to reduce the CCS footprint significantly, by using as much consumer waste as possible. They chose Hydro's Circal 75R brand, which guarantees that a minimum of 75 percent of the material will be recycled from post-consumer waste.
"With the help of the digital twin PRO3, the chair could be made 200 grams lighter than the starting point, while at the same time reducing the CCS footprint from 35 to 14 kg per chair without compromising the chair's properties. This optimization means that we get a solid and lightweight chair made of recycled aluminium, and with a low CCS footprint," says Christian Lodgaard, senior vice president of Flokk.