BMW, Audi and Ford accelerate the application of recycled plastics in interior and exterior trims

        With the European Commission's release of a regulatory proposal on End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV), the proposal is based on the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan, requiring that 25% of the plastics used in the manufacture of new cars must come from recycled materials, of which 25% must be recovered from scrapped vehicles. Under the urging of this regulation, the use of recycled plastics in automobiles has been greatly encouraged.

        BMW Group: Marine waste plastics for interior and exterior injection molding

        BMW Group plans to use decorative parts containing 30% marine waste plastic in the NEUE KLASSE model launched in 2025. Compared with traditional petroleum-based plastic parts, this recycled material decorative part can reduce the carbon footprint by 25%. BMW Group will purchase discarded plastic fishing nets and ropes at ports around the world, and through cooperation with Denmark's PLASTIX company, the fishing nets and ropes will be processed into recycled plastic particles, which can be used for injection molding of interior and exterior trims.

        Audi: Chemically recycled plastics for safety components

        In Audi’s latest Q8 e-tron model, the outer shell of its seat belt buckle cover is partially made of recycled plastics made by LyondellBasell’s chemical recycling. This is the first time that Audi has used this method to manufacture safety components.

        According to reports, the entire plastic recycling process involves stripping the scrap plastic parts from the vehicle, removing foreign matter such as metal clips, then breaking them down into smaller parts and processing them into pyrolysis oil through chemical recycling. These oils are then used as raw materials for making new plastic materials based on the mass balance method. The plastic particles thus obtained are used to produce Q8e-tron seat belt buckles.

        In this material recycling process, the automaker, together with other project participants, managed to recycle material streams that are usually only suitable for energy recovery. The operation will enable Audi to extend the use period of fossil raw materials and reduce additional raw material purchases for the Q8 e-tron. Plastic pellets made from pyrolysis oil meet the same high standards as products made from virgin plastic and have the same technical characteristics.

        According to reports, about 70% of the material (including fillers and additives) of the seat belt buckle cover is made from pyrolysis oil. This pyrolysis oil is added to the plastic pellets during the manufacturing process. The allocation of waste pyrolysis oil to plastic pellets is carried out within the framework of the mass balance approach with a qualified credit transfer. This means that the independent external certification agency ecocycle confirms that the project members have replaced the fossil resources required for the seat belt buckle cover with pyrolysis oil produced from mixed automotive waste plastics. Based on the currently planned production data, the project will provide enough pyrolysis oil in the above quantity for the entire production run of the Q8 e-tron.

        Eastman, Yanfeng, Ford: Molecular recycling method solves the difficulty of automobile ASR recycling

        When a car is scrapped, the whole car is crushed and divided into different material piles for processing, among which metals, tires and glass that account for 80%-90% of the car's volume can be mechanically recycled. The remaining 10%-20% is automotive shredder residue (ASR), which is the shredded residue of scrapped cars. These residues are a mixture of plastics, textiles, fibers and other materials. They are difficult to recycle using traditional methods and are usually sent to landfills or incinerated.

        A project team consisting of Eastman, mechanical recycling company PADNOS and automotive parts manufacturer Yanfeng found that automotive shredder residue can be recycled through molecular chemical recycling methods.

        It is understood that Eastman's molecular recycling technology decomposes these automobile crushing residues at the molecular level, and then repolymerizes them. The final processed recycled materials are almost the same as new materials in terms of performance or safety.

        In this cooperation, PADNOS provides ASR as the raw material for Eastman's molecular recycling. Eastman uses carbon regeneration technology (CRT) to convert ASR into recycled plastic resins, and Yanfeng Company processes these recycled resins into automotive parts. These parts can meet the quality requirements of the three automotive brands Ford, GM and Stellantis.

        “Currently, plastics account for about 50% of automotive materials, and this proportion is expected to increase as electric vehicles continue to be lightweight.” Eastman Executive Vice President, Manufacturing and Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Crawford said, “This project research will help create a closed loop of materials that are difficult to recycle in automobiles.”

        Hankook Tire: Chemically Recycled Polyester Tire Cord

          Tire cord is a fiber-reinforced material that helps maintain the shape of the tire, withstand loads and impacts during driving, and improve the durability, driving performance and ride comfort of the tire. Especially for electric vehicles, tire cord materials need to be lightweight, durable and high-strength to support the weight of more than 400 kg of batteries.

        SK Chemicals, Hyosung Advanced Materials and Hankook Tire Technology Co., Ltd. jointly developed a tire called "ON" for electric vehicles, which uses "recycled PET (polyester) fiber tire cord". This technology is exclusively developed by SK Chemicals and can decompose waste plastics into molecular units and then use these raw materials to produce recycled plastics.

        SK Chemicals provides recycled PET "SKYPET CR", and Hyosung Advanced Materials uses it as a raw material to develop high-strength tire cord based on recycled PET. This tire cord is used in Hankook Tire's high-end electric vehicle tire brand iON. iON tires use 45% sustainable materials. Compared with traditional physical recycling methods such as washing and cutting waste plastics, SK Chemical's "SKYPET CR" has significant advantages in maintaining high quality characteristics and safety even after multiple recycling. It has recently passed the strict reliability verification of a European automaker and obtained official approval as a new car tire.