BASF makes products with chemically recycled plastics

“A responsible use of plastics is crucial to solve the world’s waste problem. This applies to companies as well as to institutions and consumers. With chemical recycling we want to make a significant contribution in reducing the amount of plastic waste,” said Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of BASF SE.

At the beginning of the production chain, BASF feeds oil derived from plastic waste by an oiling process into the Production Verbund. BASF gets this feedstock for the pilot products from the partner Recenso GmbH, Germany. As an alternative, syngas made from plastic waste can also be used.

The first batch of this oil was fed into the steam cracker at BASF’s site in Ludwigshafen in October. The steam cracker is the starting point for Verbund production. It breaks down or cracks this raw material at temperatures of around 850°C.

The primary outputs of the process are ethylene and propylene. These basic chemicals are used in the Verbund to make numerous chemical products. Under the mass balance approach, the share of recycled raw material can be mathematically allocated to the final certified product. Each customer can select the allocated percentage of recycled material.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/petrochemicals/14122018/basf-makes-products-with-chemically-recycled-plastics/