OLIVES TO DASHBOARD
A CORONET FOR CAR MATERIALS
Here’s a new meaning for “extending an olive branch.”
Ford has teamed up with COMP0live to turn olive tree branches into auto parts.
During each harvest season, seven million tons (6.5 billion kilograms) of olive tree branches are pruned. Until now, there was no identified reuse for the wood, which is burned, creating CO2 emissions and air pollution, tying up land and contributing to water use.
Engineers at Ford-Werke GmbH in Köln (Cologne, Germany) were looking for ways to reduce the use of fossil fuel-based raw materials. Most of those go into plastics found throughout vehicle interiors and under sheet metal.
In Spain, the Andalusia region on the southern coast produces 80% of the country’s olives, and 30% globally, with 2.5 million trees devoted to making olive oil. A third of its residents work in the olive-growing or nearly 1,000 related industries.
Its tons of waste wood appear destined to be recycled into biocomposites; a combination of wood fibers and small pieces of recycled polypropylene plastic. An overarching goal is to support the EU’s efforts toward a more circular economy.
In the lab, the engineers were able to initially simulate injection molding to develop an ideal formula of 40% wood fiber and 60% plastic. The real prototypes they eventually created and tested were termed as, “lightweight, durable, and strong.” Ford is now evaluating the process of adding biocomposites to its vehicle production.
The recently announced project success really is a gesture of peace toward the planet.
The Comp0live project is also aimed at enhancing socioeconomic and environmental aspects in Andalusia, and developing an integrated technological product management system consisting of software and logistics infrastructure and services.
It plans to take composting to new levels right on farms, through remote sensors, digital tech and expertise to achieve a circular economy within the agri-food sector.
And those biocomposites? It’s exciting to hear that a broader range of applications is under consideration.
Ford’s commitment to sustainability is called The Road to Better.
The automaker, the world’s fourth largest in terms of revenue, says the recycled fibers give the end product a unique surface appearance. In interior uses, it will be an obvious hallmark of sustainability.
This leaves us with a couple of questions.
How much virgin plastic will those seven million tons of olive tree fiber offset within Ford’s 4 million plus annual vehicle production?
What other waste streams can be funneled into this or similar projects?
