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EU funding (€7,325,421): Smart Clean Aluminium Material Processing - Digital Sorting, Intelligent Pre-treatment, and Advanced Melt Refining Hor6 May 2026 EU Research and Innovation programme "Horizon"
Overview
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Smart Clean Aluminium Material Processing - Digital Sorting, Intelligent Pre-treatment, and Advanced Melt Refining
Aluminium recycling is a cornerstone of sustainable metallurgy, yet current processes remain constrained by hazardous fluxing agents, chemical cleaning, and high emissions of particulates, VOCs, dioxins, and salt slag waste. The CLEANMAT project develops an end-to-end optimisation pathway to address these challenges, integrating digitalisation, advanced materials science, and sustainable process engineering. A Digital Thread interlinks scrap sorting, pre-treatment, melt refining, and downstream alloy qualification, enabling AI-driven optimisation and traceability across the full value chain. Multi-sensor characterisation technologies will identify residual contaminants that evade conventional sorting, ensuring feedstock purity. Closed-loop heat pre-treatment and cleaning will safely eliminate organic coatings and residues. At the refining stage, two complementary approaches will be advanced: near-zero flux processing for induction furnaces, and ultra-low flux retrofits for rotary, reverberatory, and crucible furnaces, employing MHD flow, vacuum distillation, LiME, and HSMC conditioning. These processes will reduce flux use by up to 97%, while maintaining alloy quality and yield. Rigorous LCA, techno-economic, and occupational safety assessments will benchmark environmental and economic benefits. Industrial validation with automotive and recycling partners will demonstrate scalability and compliance with EN standards. CLEANMAT will deliver a replicable pathway to high-performance alloys from challenging scrap streams, establishing Europe’s global leadership in safe, low-emission, and circular aluminium recycling
Funded Companies:
| Company name | Funding amount |
| Alumisel SA | €257,366 |
| Brunel University London | €1,067,647 |
| Centro Ricerche Fiat Scpa | €150,250 |
| Doktas Dokumculuk Ticaret VE Sanayi Anonim Sirketi | €289,688 |
| European Aluminium | €138,625 |
| Ford Otomotiv Sanayi Anonim Sirketi | €463,750 |
| Fraunhofer Gesellschaft ZUR Forderung DER Angewandten Forschung e. V. | €687,823 |
| GBP Metal Group SL | €201,331 |
| Gemmate Technologies Srl | €249,750 |
| Innovation in Research & Engineering Solutions | €413,750 |
| Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet Ntnu | €638,139 |
| Otto Junker GmbH | €531,474 |
| Recycling Europe | €213,850 |
| Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen | €649,553 |
| Technische Universiteit Delft | €569,815 |
| Teknopar Endustriyel Otomasyon Sanayi VE Ticaret Anonim Sirketi | €476,375 |
| Zyomax Ltd. | €326,237 |
Source: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101294748
The filing refers to a past date, and does not necessarily reflect the current state.