Germany-based Siemens and BASF have announced a new partnership to drive the circular economy in the electronics sector.
For the first time, Siemens has launched a circuit breaker including components made from biomass-balanced (BMB) plastics. Circuit breakers are used in factories and buildings to protect machines or electrical cables in the event of faults such as short circuits, helping to prevent fires breaking out.
Siemens’ Sirius 3RV2 circuit breaker is now being manufactured using Ultramid BMB and Ultradur BMB from BASF. In turn, BASF is using the new circuit breaker in its own production plants.
Both BMB grades replace fossil feedstock with biomethane from agricultural waste attributed via a mass balance method. Replacing fossil feedstock with bio-based material in the cracker lowers the product’s carbon footprint by up to 50% in comparison with the standard grades. The material changeover in the circuit breaker production will reduce the emission of carbon dioxide equivalents by around 270 tons per year, Siemens said in a statement.
BASF’s Ultramid BMB and Ultradur BMB reportedly offer the same quality and performance as virgin PA and PBT, respectively.
Ultradur is BASF’s brand name for its line of partially crystalline, thermoplastic, saturated polyesters derived from polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). The material’s strength and low water absorption make it ideal for high-quality and heavy-duty parts in the electric and electronic sector.
BASF’s Ultramid grades are moulding compounds on the basis of PA6, PA66 and various co-polyamides such as PA66/6. The material offers high mechanical strength, stiffness, and thermal stability.
In the coming months, Siemens plans to expand the use of sustainable materials across the broader Sirius industrial controls portfolio.
"The mass balance approach is a game-changing solution that enables the gradual replacement of fossil raw materials in sometimes complex production processes,” said Martin Jung, President BASF performance materials. “The advantages of this approach are obvious, and the greater the demand for alternative products, the higher the proportion of alternative raw materials in the production network. This aligns with our goal of achieving a circular economy and net zero operations as soon as possible.”
Last week, BASF launched a new BMB ecoflex grade that fully replaces fossil feedstock with renewable feedstock from waste and residual biomass attributed via a mass balance method. Last year, the company launched its first certified biomass-balanced additives, the antioxidants Irganox 1010 BMBcert and Irganox 1076 BMBcert.