Associate Professor Mohammad Malekan of the Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) has secured a Sapere Aude Research Leader grant from Independent Research Fund Denmark to explore whether contaminated metal by-products from industry can feed directly into advanced metal 3D printing.
Manufacturing operations across Europe produce vast volumes of metal chips and scraps daily, residual material that most companies pay to have hauled away. The project aims to establish how this discarded material can be converted into metal powder suitable for additive manufacturing.
“Europe has limited access to raw materials, while at the same time producing large amounts of metal waste. We need to become better at viewing waste as a resource. If we can reuse materials that already exist within our industrial value chains, we can both reduce waste and decrease our dependence on imported raw materials,” says Malekan.
Skipping the Cleaning Step
Recycling routes for metal scrap already exist, but they generally demand intensive purification because the material carries oils, lubricants and other manufacturing residues. Malekan’s project takes aim at that assumption. The team will work with chips left over from processes like CNC machining, often composed of valuable metals yet routinely shipped off as waste, and examine how these so-called “dirty powders” influence the quality and behavior of 3D printed components.
“What makes this project unique is that we are investigating whether these materials can be used without first cleaning them with large quantities of chemicals. If that proves possible, recycling could become simpler, cheaper and more environmentally friendly,” he says.
The research arrives as raw material access and supply chain resilience climb the strategic agenda across Europe. Much of the metal European industry depends on is imported, and interest in localized, circular manufacturing ecosystems is rising. If companies could reprocess their own scrap streams internally, the result would be a double gain: stronger supply security and a more circular economy.
“Many companies are already working actively to improve sustainability and circular production. If we can develop solutions that transform waste into a valuable resource instead of a problem, the impact could extend far beyond the laboratory,” says Malekan.
AI-Assisted Materials Science and a New Research Group
The project blends materials science, advanced 3D printing, numerical simulation and artificial intelligence. Machine learning will be applied to predict defects in finished printed parts and to understand how impurities alter material properties, with the ultimate goal of making recycled feedstocks practical for industrial adoption.
The Sapere Aude scheme is designed to help promising researchers establish independent research groups. The grant will finance a postdoctoral researcher, a PhD student and a research assistant.
“I am both proud and grateful. The Sapere Aude grant gives me the opportunity to build my own research environment and pursue an idea that involves significant scientific risk, but also considerable potential. It is a unique opportunity to generate new knowledge that can benefit both research and industry,” he says.
Closing the Loop Between Scrap and Powder
While SDU is investigating whether contaminated scrap can be converted into printable powder with minimal chemical cleaning, commercial players have already demonstrated that scrap-to-powder recycling is viable at industrial scale.
For instance, 6K Additive’s UniMelt microwave plasma platform converts machined millings, turnings and other recycled feedstock into industry-ready metal powders, and the company recently signed a long-term agreement with Siemens Energy to reprocess spent nickel superalloy powder that would otherwise fall into lower-value recycling streams. The US Department of Defense has backed the approach with a $23.4 million grant to expand 6K’s metal upcycling capacity, explicitly framing domestic scrap recovery as a supply-security measure.
Others have pursued the same circular logic. Continuum Powders raised $36 million to scale production of powders made from 100% recycled and responsibly sourced materials, positioning itself as the answer to what it calls the missing link in the circular metal supply chain.
Scrap-to-powder is moving from concept to commercial reality on both sides of the Atlantic. What remains unsolved is doing it without costly purification. That is precisely the gap the SDU project sets out to close.
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Featured image shows Associate Professor Mohammad Malekan. Photo via SDU.
