“This collaboration with our Japanese partners represents an important step toward developing a practical recycling model for polyurethane foam in Japan. It also reflects Evonik’s ambition to scale polyurethane recycling by building strong partnerships across the value chain. By combining local collection and logistics expertise with polyol development and our chemical recycling technology, we aim to recover valuable raw materials for use in new, high-quality polyurethane foams and support more circular polyurethane value chains,” said Dr. Martin Trocha, head of Comfort & Adhesives in Evonik’s business line Interface & Polyurethane Additives.

The partners plan to develop a system for collecting both post-consumer polyurethane foam and post-industrial scrap. The collected material will be chemically recycled into high-purity polyols and amines, intended for reuse as raw materials in the manufacture of new polyurethane products.

The hydrolysis-based chemical recycling process from Evonik is designed to produce recycled polyols with high purity and consistent quality. The process provides polyurethane foam manufacturers with a drop-in solution and can significantly reduce carbon footprint compared to virgin materials. New polyurethane foam has already been successfully produced using 100% recycled polyol derived from the process.

The three companies will jointly evaluate the entire process, from collection and sorting to the production of recycled polyols and the manufacture of new polyurethane products. This work will include quality assessments and further updates to Evonik’s existing life cycle assessment to reflect the proposed value chain in Japan. The objective is to commercialize the technology and establish a scalable recycling model for polyurethane foam in Japan.

Learn more about Evonik at evonik.com.