CTAG: Designing for Sustainability and Circularity
As a key partner in the BIOntier project, CTAG (Centro Tecnológico de Automoción de Galicia) is bringing its expertise in sustainable design, material assessment, and life cycle analysis to several strategic work packages.
🧪 Technical & Environmental Requirements
CTAG supports the development of sustainability performance criteria and assessing material feasibility for the first use case of the project. In collaboration with CRF (Centro Ricerche Fiat S.C.p.A.), MAIP (Materiali Plastici Industriali), and TAI (Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc), CTAG has reviewed the materials traditionally used in Use Case 1— a cockpit dashboard with semi-structural trim for the Jeep Renegade, designed to balance aesthetics and lightness— and compared them with the bio-based alternatives currently under consideration.
Then, CTAG works alongside Fraunhofer and DLR to explore end-of-life (EOL) scenarios including reuse, recycling, and disposal. The analysis incorporates eco-design principles and evaluates the resource efficiency and structural implications of using recycled materials, with input from BCM and AKSA.
🔄 Circular Design & Optimization
CTAG leads the task about Circular Design and Multi-Parameter Optimization, set to start in April 2025. This work builds on the circular design strategies developed before and aims to integrate environmental metrics from the earliest design stages.
By optimizing components and sub-systems across the six BIOntier Use Cases, CTAG seeks to maximize environmental benefits and ensure that circularity is a core criterion in all design decisions.
📊 Life-Cycle and Cost Analysis
In this part, CTAG is preparing the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis for all Use Cases. Together with partners like Fraunhofer and Etelatar, CTAG has contributed to developing Data Collection Sheets (DCS) and is gathering detailed information on materials, energy use, and production processes. These insights will feed into a comprehensive economic impact assessment of the BIOntier solutions, complementing the environmental analysis.
By actively contributing to technical, environmental, and economic evaluations, CTAG ensures that sustainability is embedded at every level of BIOntier—from concept to end-of-life. Their work helps transform bio-based innovation into tangible, circular, and market-ready solutions.