Airbus

Development of a Concept for the Disassembly and Recycling of Aircraft Cabin Components to Promote a Circular Economy

Description of the company

Airbus designs, manufactures and delivers industry-leading commercial aircraft, helicopters, military transports, satellites, launchers and more.

Situation

The cabin interior of an aircraft is modernized several times during its operational life and decommissioned at the end of the aircraft's life cycle. Many of the resulting materials, especially composites and plastics from cabin linings, seats, and other components, end up in landfills or are incinerated rather than being recycled or reused. Existing processes are often not designed for the separation of pure materials and efficient recycling, leading to a significant loss of valuable resources and increasing the environmental footprint.

Problem

The current disassembly processes for aircraft cabins are time-consuming and complex. An efficient separation of the diverse material mix (e.g., fiber composites, various plastics, metals, textiles) is difficult to achieve. There is a lack of standardized procedures and innovative technologies to enable high-quality recycling of cabin components and to return these materials to the production cycle or other industries. This conflicts with Airbus's ambitious sustainability goals and the growing regulatory requirements for a circular economy.

Aims of the project

The main goal of this project is to develop an innovative and practical concept to optimize the disassembly and recycling of selected aircraft cabin components.

Sub-goals include:

• Analysis of the current disassembly process and material flows of cabin components.
• Identification of key components and materials with high recycling potential.
• Research and evaluation of innovative recycling technologies and methods for the identified materials.
• Development of a concept for an optimized disassembly and separation process (Design for Disassembly/Recycling).
• Creation of an economic and ecological life cycle assessment for the developed concept.

Scopes

In-Scope:

• Focus on 2-3 representative cabin components
• Analysis of the material composition of these components.
• Conceptual development of disassembly and separation steps.
• Theoretical evaluation of the technical, economic, and ecological feasibility.
• Creation of a high-level implementation guideline.

Out of Scope:

• Physical implementation or construction of a prototype.
• Detailed chemical analysis of the materials in a laboratory.
• Development of entirely new recycling processes.
• Negotiations with external recycling service providers.

Target group (students)

Study programs: Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Process Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Materials Science, Product Design, or similar engineering and interdisciplinary fields of study.

Skills:

• Strong interest in sustainability, circular economy, and aviation.
• Analytical and conceptual thinking.
• Basic knowledge of project management.
• Ability to conduct independent research and learn new topics.
• Very good English skills, as the teams are international.

Prior experience (desirable, but not mandatory):

• Initial knowledge in the areas of manufacturing technology, materials science (especially polymers and composites), or recycling technologies and life cycle assessments

Dates
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Registration
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