Polyurethanes support that objective because they are lightweight.
But all products at some point reach the end of their working lives and so does your car.
END OF LIFE SOLUTIONS
- Mechanical recycling: Production cut-offs + EoL from are transformed into so called trim (foam flocks) which in turn can become rebounded foam used in numerous applications.
- Depolymerisation: A process whereby flexible polyurethane foam is broken down into its specific constituent chemical raw materials, which can be used again to make fresh foam. There are several technologies available for the chemical recycling of PU foam – namely acidolysis, aminolysis, hydrolysis and glycolysis – differentiated by the base material they use to dissolve PU foam.
- Thermo-chemical recycling: Feedstock recycling is a technology used for recovering value from large quantities of post consumer and industrial plastics waste. Essentially, the process involves recovering hydrocarbons from mixed plastics waste and feeding them back into the petrochemical manufacturing chain as feedstock materials.
For materials that are contaminated energy recovery remains the best option. Energy recovery is the process of recovering the fossil fuel energy contained in polymers through direct incineration with or without other waste materials. The recovered energy is used to provide heat or electricity to industry and homes. Polyurethanes have a recoverable energy value comparable to that of coal.
ECOPROFILE OF FLEXIBLE FOAM
The Eco-profile of moulded Polyurethane foam (PU) provides environmental performance data representative of the average European production. The data in the documents tells you what input is required and output produced for making 1kg of moulded PU foam (cradle-to-gate).
Industry data for the production of moulded PU foam had been collected from the following companies: Adient, Faurecia, Fehrer, Proseat and Toscana Gomma.
This document has been prepared according to the Eco-profiles program and methodology and is intended to be used by a variety of stakeholders, most notably as a source of LCA (Life cycle assessment) information.
THE MASS BALANCE APPROACH: THE CASE FOR PU IN AUTOMOBILES
The MBA is essentially a process approach that allows chemical producers to track how much of alternative (non-fossil) feedstock is used in the production of circular chemicals. This is being done by following the mass flow principles, quantifying inputs and outputs at each stage of the production process and tracking the use of raw materials throughout the value chain. This way, MBA audits enable third-party verification of the process.
This document is aiming at explaining why chemicals introduced via the mass balance approach are the ideal way to integrate more sustainable content (bio-based, bio-circular, or recycled) into polyurethanes for vehicle interiors. Relatively general in nature and ‘lighter’ in style, it is suited for a non-specialist general audience, but can also be relevant for environmental professionals, policy makers and regulators.
