Circular Economy Chemical Recycling: BASF, Porsche, and BEST Complete Pilot Project

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Complex waste streams from end-of-life vehicles can be processed through chemical recycling for reuse in foam production for steering wheels.

Porsche AG and BASF SE, in collaboration with technology partner BEST - Bioenergy and Sustainable Technologies GmbH, have successfully completed a pilot project for recycling mixed waste from end-of-life vehicles. The pilot project demonstrates the recyclability of high-performance plastics from automotive shredder residues (ASR) together with renewable raw materials. This mixture of plastic, film, paint, and foam residues is so complex that it can currently only be thermally processed. However, the pilot project shows that these automotive waste materials can be chemically utilized and reintroduced into the automotive cycle through gasification, a special type of chemical recycling. As part of the project, the chemically recycled material was used in the manufacturing process for steering wheels.

“Through such pilot projects, we can evaluate how to further develop circular economy practices at Porsche and integrate chemical recycling into our long-term strategy,” says Robert Kallenberg, Head of Sustainability at Porsche AG. “Together with our direct partners, we are specifically testing new recycling technologies to increase recycling rates, gain access to previously unusable recyclate sources, and evaluate new processes for waste streams that are currently thermally processed.”

First Fully Non-Fossil Gasification

For the first time, a waste stream consisting solely of automotive waste and biomass was recycled in a gasification process for plastic production as part of the project. The resulting recycled raw material—known as syngas and its derivatives—replaced fossil raw materials in BASF's integrated value chain. Within its production network, BASF then used a mass balance approach to produce the polyurethane formulation needed for the steering wheel. “Gasification technology was used together with BASF and Porsche for the first time to convert complex plastic waste streams into synthetic crude oil, known as syncrude,” explains Matthias Kuba, Area Manager Syngas Platform Technologies at BEST. “This form of chemical recycling has great potential for transforming complex, mixed waste streams into new, valuable raw materials. As such, it represents a meaningful alternative to waste incineration.”

"We are convinced that complementary technologies such as chemical recycling, including pyrolysis, depolymerization, and gasification, are necessary to further promote the circular economy and reduce plastic waste that still ends up in landfills or is incinerated today," adds Martin Jung, Head of the Performance Materials division at BASF.

Due to the high quality of the newly supplied raw materials, the resulting products have the quality of new materials and meet the high requirements of high-performance plastics, which are especially needed for safety-relevant automotive components.

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