During the last 5 months of 2024, Continuum Powders turned nearly one ton of nickel scrap per week from Siemens Vitality into high-quality metallic powder, the type used for 3D printing in crucial industries like aerospace and power. That may be a highly effective shift towards a round, extra versatile provide chain.
It began with an issue most producers face: leftover metallic elements with nowhere to go. Siemens Vitality had leftover nickel elements from its facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; mainly, scrap from repairing and servicing tools like generators and turbines. That sort of waste may find yourself in conventional recycling and even landfills. However with Continuum’s assist, it’s getting a second life.
From Scrap to Superalloy Powder
Continuum Powders used its patented Greyhound M2P plasma atomization course of to take the unused nickel engine elements and switch them into contemporary metallic powders. These powders are particularly precious in additive manufacturing (AM) as a result of they permit printed elements to fulfill the identical demanding requirements as historically manufactured parts.
This sort of nickel-based superalloy powder is in excessive demand, primarily for making complicated elements that have to deal with excessive warmth and stress, like in jet engines, protection methods, and energy vegetation. However making this powder the standard means—beginning with uncooked mined metals, melting them down, and atomizing them—makes use of loads of power and produces loads of emissions. It additionally will increase the necessity for brand spanking new uncooked supplies, that are costly and sometimes come from provide chains that may be exhausting to depend on. As a substitute, Continuum took metallic already in circulation and turned it into one thing new—with out ranging from scratch.
The Greyhound M2P System.
A Win for Provide Chains
Past the environmental advantages, this initiative helps to strengthen provide chains. By recycling present supplies and making them out there for reuse, corporations like Siemens Vitality don’t should rely as closely on exterior sources or brand-new uncooked supplies, that are costly and typically exhausting to get.
“This milestone displays our unwavering dedication to innovation and sustainability,” stated Rob Higby, CEO of Continuum Powders. “By prioritizing environment friendly recycling and high-quality manufacturing, we’re serving to trade leaders scale back their environmental affect and construct provide chain resiliency.”
Today, having a dependable provide chain makes a giant distinction. With disruptions in international transport, rising prices, and political stress—together with a now-paused tariff plan from the Trump administration—corporations are looking for methods to make their provide chains extra native, secure, and predictable. This partnership reveals that recycling high-value metals domestically generally is a large a part of that.
The Continuum workforce with Wealthy Voorberg and Ramesh Subramanian of Siemens Vitality on the AMGTA Annual Member Summit.
Wealthy Voorberg, President of Siemens Vitality in North America, defined that this isn’t only a one-time win however a part of an even bigger technique.
“Our aim is to recycle scrap supplies into high-quality metallic powders for reuse in additive manufacturing as a result of after we reduce waste and enhance round manufacturing, it makes us a stronger participant within the power sector,” he stated.
In reality, the power sector makes use of loads of nickel-based alloys in its generators and methods, and turning waste into usable powder means Siemens can probably reintroduce that materials proper again into its provide chain. Subsequent, the 2 corporations plan to check how the recycled powder can return to Siemens Vitality’s manufacturing course of.
Different corporations are shifting in the identical path, like 6K Additive, which turns scrap metallic into high-quality powders for 3D printing; Outokumpu, a Finnish stainless-steel producer that’s now making recycled metallic powders particularly for AM; and Elcan Industries, which reprocesses used additive powders to allow them to be reused as an alternative of wasted.
Cleaner, Cheaper, Smarter
Conventional metallic recycling normally entails melting down scrap, transporting it lengthy distances, and utilizing heavy tools, all of which devour power and add to emissions. Continuum says its Greyhound M2P course of cuts loads of that out. It’s quicker, cleaner, and finished nearer to the place the scrap is collected.
“Our recycling and powder manufacturing capabilities show that revolutionary options can ship vital environmental and financial worth whereas assembly essentially the most demanding trade necessities,” stated Michael Brennen, Gross sales Director at Continuum Powders.
Many producers at this time are in search of a mixture of excessive efficiency and low environmental affect. In reality, a 2023 survey by Plex discovered that 95% of producers had been making sustainability a precedence. In keeping with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), 80% of shoppers in 2024 stated they’re prepared to pay extra for merchandise made or sourced sustainably, pushing producers to fulfill these environmental targets.
The Greyhound 3.0 powder manufacturing system from Continuum Powders.
Continuum’s method is a part of a rising motion towards round manufacturing, the place supplies are used repeatedly reasonably than tossed apart after a single use. What’s extra, by taking in over 16,000 kilograms (or greater than 35,600 kilos) of nickel scrap in simply 5 months, Continuum has proven that this sort of system might work. The corporate is already making use of this mannequin past Siemens, working in Texas and California and supplying recycled metallic powders to purchasers throughout aerospace, protection, power, and automotive industries, and it’s seeking to develop.
All pictures courtesy of Continuum Powders.
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