Covestro sees materials solutions to global challenges

"Our long-term plan is to keep on track with a circular economy and with our climate targets," Chief Commercial Officer Sucheta Govil said at an Oct. 18 press event on the day before the show opened in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Govil added that Leverkusen, Germany-based Covestro (Hall 6, Booth A75) wants to improve its energy efficiency and its purchases of green energy, with a goal of being climate-neutral by 2035.

In a news release, CEO Markus Steilemann added that plastics "are a must to drive the shared global vision of the circular economy and achieve climate neutrality. ... We want to highlight the huge potential of these advanced materials to solve global challenges and showcase promising developments."

At K 2022, The firm is emphasizing its CQ (circular intelligence) line of products that have at least 25 percent biomass, recycled content or green hydrogen. Officials said that the new materials aim to create greater transparency and to make it easier for customers to distinguish them from conventional, fossil-based products.

"We want to make sure that we offer solutions to our customers that they can easily drop into their manufacturing processes," Govil said.

But the current market has its share of challenges.

"The world is facing a crisis," Govil said. "There's the war [in Ukraine], the energy crisis, inflation and recovery from the [COVID-19] pandemic."

Supply chain issues also are presenting challenges to Covestro and other materials firms.

"You can't just say you want to make something in one part of the world and supply it to another anymore," Govil added. She also said that although supply chains are improving through better forecasts, they're also challenged by continuing volatility and by high energy costs in Europe.

Foam recycling

Covestro is working on a polyurethane foam mattress recycling programme, with lab-scale samples expected to be available to customers in 2023. Covestro and partners have developed a chemical recycling process to recover polyol and the precursor to TDI from PU mattress foam, with a pilot plant in Leverkusen. The partner companies now plan to extend the project to industrial processing of flexible foams.

Covestro and PU parts maker Arcesso Dynamics also are introducing Arfinio at K 2022 The process is a manufacturing solution for furniture, bathroom fixtures, electronic parts and other applications based on reaction injection molding (RIM) of aliphatic PU.

Renewable energy also plays a role in Covestro's exhibit of the Photon, a prototype solar race car. This "sonnenwagen" vehicle was designed and built by a team of students from Aachen, Germany. The team - sponsored by Covestro - developed and raced high-tech vehicles to find sustainable mobility.

Covestro also is presenting new charging stations and wallboxes for future mobility, including the first wallbox made by partner EVBox using more sustainable Makrolon-brand polycarbonate resins. These materials are made proportionately from biowaste and residual materials and have a low carbon footprint.

K 2022 is the next step in what's been a busy year for Covestro. In August, the firm sold its additive manufacturing business to Stratasys Ltd. for 43 million euros ($43.8 million). The sale includes employees, R&D facilities, production assets and offices in the Netherlands, Germany, the U.S. and China. The business offers material solutions for polymer 3D printing processes and includes products from the Resins & Functional Materials business acquired from DSM in 2021.

In February, Covestro added two new PC compounding lines at its plant in Noida, India. The new lines more than double Covestro's annual PC compounding capacity at the site. It's the firm's first major expansion in India since 2015.

In the automotive market, Covestro and moulding technology firm X2F are working together to develop a thermally conductive automotive heat sink with in-mold electronics. The new heat sink uses transformative controlled viscosity moulding technology from Loveland, Colo.-based X2F. Application samples are on display at K 2022.

The new heat sink is moulded from Makrolon-brand PC that's almost 50 percent lighter than the typical aluminium part. It's part of an in-mould assembly that can be used to integrate LED modules directly into the headlamp housing - eliminating the weight and labour associated with installation of brackets, screws and adhesives.

Covestro is a global supplier of PC resins and films, thermoplastic PU, PU materials and foams, and other speciality chemicals and materials. The firm employs almost 18,000 and posted sales of 15.9 billion euros ($16.2 billion) in its 2021 fiscal year.