Meet our research partner Politecnico di Milano
Politecnico di Milano, top technical university in Italy (QS Rankings 2025), is home to 40,000 aspiring engineers, architects, and designers annually. Within its prestigious Mechanical Engineering (DMEC) and Management Engineering (DIG) departments, 7 research groups will bring an unparalleled expertise to the rEUman project and offer top-notch technology and knowledge to support human-centric remanufacturing, from factory-level to value chain-level. Their extensive experience in large-scale innovation projects, including those funded by the EU, ensures a seamless transfer of cutting-edge technological innovations to the industry.
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POLIMI will introduce several groundbreaking innovations in rEUman. Hybrid automation and human-empowerment solutions will make manual operations safer and more efficient, improving working conditions and boosting productivity. Advanced regeneration techniques, such as cold-spray technology, will allow more accurate and high-quality remanufacturing of mechanical components. Function-oriented reassembly of remanufactured components will ensure that the assembled product will meet its functional specifications. A critical part of rEUman’s strategy is the development of a Digital Product Passport (DPP). This will enable better data management and traceability across the entire remanufacturing value chain, allowing manufacturers and remanufacturers to collaborate more effectively. Built on open-source technologies, the DPP will ensure transparency and streamline processes across multiple sectors.
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Role in the project
Prof. Marcello Colledani from Politecnico di Milano is the project coordinator of rEUman.
Politecnico di Milano is the leader of WP3 (Factory-level: Human-centric remanufacturing processes) and WP9 (Project Management), and it is actively involved either as leader or contributor in different technical activities in others WPs.
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Infrastructure
Eco-Circ: The Lombardy Region Hub for Circular Economy. The hub involves 5 million € of infrastructure co-funded by the Lombardy Region for increasing the capacity of research institutes in Lombardy in view of the realization of a regional infrastructure for supporting the circular economy transition of the Lombardy Region industrial stakeholders. POLIMI, as the coordinator of this initiative has built a 3.2 million € infrastructure for supporting circular economy solutions in the e-mobility. Technologies focus on circular economy solutions for different components of e-vehicles, among which mechatronics, electronics, composites, metal sheets and engines.
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CIRC-eV: CIRC-eV Laboratory’s mission is developing a new Circular Factory concept to help the manufacturing industry recover and reuse components from hybrid and electric vehicles and promote new circular economy models for sustainable mobility. CIRC-eV is the first European laboratory dedicated to the Circular Factory concept.
It integrates disassembly, testing, reassembly and recycling of materials within the same structure, to design and enable sustainable circular economy solutions for the e-mobility sector. CIRC-eV will be equipped with Key Enabling Technologies (KET), focusing on the initial configuration and the most critical component for sustainable e-mobility – lithium-ion batteries.
The most interesting strategy for automotive lithium-ion batteries is related to remanufacturing and reuse of disassembled cells. Cells with adequate residual properties will be reused in second-life applications using a cross-sector approach. Regenerated battery packs could be used for storage to support systems from renewable sources or inside living spaces (home, office). Cells that do not maintain sufficient secondary post-use properties will be destined for recycling to recover high value-added materials. Developing enabling technologies and decision-support systems will enable the best strategy for the management of post-use cells to be chosen based on residual performance. On a technical-scientific level, macro-challenges of the CIRC-eV laboratory are linked to:
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Design and development of a safe cell disassembly process and systems, with the appropriate level of flexibility to handle the wide variety of battery module types.
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Methods and procedures to assess the state of health (SoH - State of Health) of the cells, define how they degrade and estimate their residual useful life, allowing their application in second-life modules with certified performance.
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Development of methods to support decisions on cell selection and reassembly of knowledge-based and data-driven modules, aimed at creating second-life modules optimised depending on the most suitable application.
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Development of control systems (BMS - Battery Management System) which can meet the new specifications and requirements of the reconverted second-life modules.
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Design and development of highly selective mechanical pre-treatments to recover valuable materials and isolate the active fraction (Black Mass), to enable the recovery of key materials using hydrometallurgical treatments.
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The CIRC-eV pilot factory will support multidisciplinary research and innovation activities to solve these challenges by developing methods and technological solutions with high potential for technology transfer to industry, able to demonstrate the feasibility and financial, environmental and social impact of a new circular business model for sustainable mobility.