A new lease of life: Audi pioneers groundbreaking plastic recycling technology
20 Jun 2021|615 views
Plastic components found in cars, be it fuel tanks, airbag covers, or radiator grilles, need to meet stringent safety and quality requirements. This is why plastic automotive components, to date, are mostly manufactured from materials of virgin material quality, which mechanically recycled plastics usually fail to achieve. Mixed plastic waste is also often not available for mechanical recycling.
For this reason, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany launched a pilot project together with Audi. Within the scope of the project, tests were carried out to determine the extent to which plastic automotive components can be recycled via chemical recycling.
Scientists from both organisations investigated the technical feasibility of the recycling process as well as its impact on the environment. The results demonstrated that chemical recycling can be used to process mixed automotive plastic waste into pyrolysis oil - a material that exhibits the same qualities as virgin materials.
Audi is one of the first automakers to test this unique recycling method, which reduces the use of additional fossil fuels, resources, and energy in component manufacturing. From a cost-effectiveness and emissions point of view, chemical recycling may prove superior to conventional energy recovery methods used in the automotive industry.
Now that the research has proven its technical feasibility, Audi intends to scale up the process together with its suppliers and industry partners.
Plastic components found in cars, be it fuel tanks, airbag covers, or radiator grilles, need to meet stringent safety and quality requirements. This is why plastic automotive components, to date, are mostly manufactured from materials of virgin material quality, which mechanically recycled plastics usually fail to achieve. Mixed plastic waste is also often not available for mechanical recycling.
For this reason, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany launched a pilot project together with Audi. Within the scope of the project, tests were carried out to determine the extent to which plastic automotive components can be recycled via chemical recycling.
Scientists from both organisations investigated the technical feasibility of the recycling process as well as its impact on the environment. The results demonstrated that chemical recycling can be used to process mixed automotive plastic waste into pyrolysis oil - a material that exhibits the same qualities as virgin materials.
Audi is one of the first automakers to test this unique recycling method, which reduces the use of additional fossil fuels, resources, and energy in component manufacturing. From a cost-effectiveness and emissions point of view, chemical recycling may prove superior to conventional energy recovery methods used in the automotive industry.
Now that the research has proven its technical feasibility, Audi intends to scale up the process together with its suppliers and industry partners.
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