INNOVATION | POLYURETHANE
Above: Graphic for joint project by BASF, Porsche and BEST for pilot gasification plant using a mixed waste stream of automotive shredder residue and biomass
with Krauss Maffei, Rampf and Liebherr to develop a continuous industrial depolymerisation process in which polyols are produced for rigid PU foam used in refrigerator insulation. In the footwear sector, BASF used the Simac
Tanning Tech trade fair in Milan in September 2025 to launch Elastollan RC, a thermoplastic polyure- thane (TPU) containing up to 100% recycled content for new shoe components. The company also indicated its intention to recover post-industrial and post-consumer footwear waste via depolymerisation. Covestro has continued to build out its Evocycle
CQ platform for chemical recycling of PU foam, and made one of the most significant technology announcements of the period in March, when it signed a contract with the Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT to build a pilot plant for “smart pyrolysis” of rigid PU foam waste from construction and appliance insulation.
Smart pyrolysis The 2,000 tonnes/yr facility, due onstream by 2028, will convert insulation waste into high-purity recycled aniline for use in producing recycled MDI. Covestro says the resulting MDI carries up to a 40% improved carbon footprint, with life-cycle analysis showing up to 80% lower CO2 emissions for the recycled aniline route compared with fossil-based production. “This partnership combines our chemical and technology expertise with Fraunhofer’s process engineering capabilities and assets to scale a technology that is able to prove chemical recyclabil- ity of end-of-life polyurethane materials,” said Markus Dugal, Head of Process Technology at
26 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | July/August 2026
Covestro. The work builds on the EU-funded Circular Foam flagship project, coordinated by Covestro with Fraunhofer UMSICHT and 23 other partners. In flexible foam, Covestro’s chemolysis process
recovers both the polyol and the isocyanate precursor TDI from used mattress foam. The company has moved from the pilot plant stage at its Leverkusen site towards wider industrial collaboration. Covestro has worked with French furniture-recycling organisation Ecomaison, dismantler Secondly and Belgian mechanical recycler Federal Eco Foam in a project to combine mechanical and chemical recycling routes for sorted mattress foam. “The aim of the partners is to recycle the sorted
polyurethane foams as efficiently as possible by combining mechanical and chemical technolo- gies,” Covestro said, adding that chemical and mechanical recycling “can be complementary given different specifications of inlet materials”. To improve PU part recyclability, Covestro has focused on automotive monomaterial component design, developing PU-based load-floor, acoustic and interior-trim concepts engineered for single- type, closed-loop recyclability in light of the EU’s End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Regulation and China’s Extended Producer Responsibility requirements.
Automotive target Dow Polyurethanes also has automotive as a target area for PU recycling. In September 2025, Dow and Italian recycler Gruppo Fiori unveiled advances in a jointly developed process – building on a 2024 memorandum of understanding – that
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
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