Envalior and SECARA Target Circular PA6 From End-of-Life Vehicle Plastics

According to company reports, Envalior and recycling technology company SECARA are working to convert plastics recovered from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) into circular polyamide 6 (PA6) for automotive applications, targeting the recycled-content requirements expected under the European Union’s new End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation (ELVR).

The companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to test and validate the use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) material derived through SECARA’s catalytic depolymerization technology in Envalior’s PA6-based engineering materials.

The collaboration focuses initially on recovering caprolactam, the monomer used to produce PA6. SECARA’s process is designed to break down technical polymers into their constituent molecules and produce high-purity caprolactam that can be fed directly into existing PA6 polymerization processes.

The approach is intended to avoid changes to existing manufacturing infrastructure, vehicle component designs or qualification procedures. If scaled successfully, it could provide automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers with a source of recycled PA6 for applications where mechanical recycling may not provide the required material performance or purity.

The regulatory driver is the EU’s recently adopted ELVR. The regulation is expected to introduce mandatory recycled-content requirements for plastics used in new vehicles. Six years after it enters into force, at least 15% of the plastic used in new vehicles must come from recycled sources, increasing to 25% after 10 years.

A portion of that recycled material must come from closed-loop sources, including plastics recovered from end-of-life vehicles or components removed during the vehicle use phase. Envalior said mechanical recycling alone may not be sufficient for some technically demanding applications because of quality and material-composition constraints.

“Circularity is one of the defining shifts facing the automotive industry, and it can only be solved through strong partnerships across the value chain,” said Christophe Cazabeau, EVP Performance Materials at Envalior. He said the collaboration is intended to assess a scalable circular pathway while preparing material solutions for customers ahead of the ELV requirements.

SECARA’s process is designed to handle mixed industrial waste streams containing materials such as glass fibers, flame retardants, additives and other contaminants. Rather than processing the entire waste stream as a single material, the technology selectively targets polymers and converts them into monomers suitable for further production.

“Our recycling process is designed to handle the large industrial mixed-waste streams containing material inclusions such as glass fibers, flame-retardants and other additives or contaminations,” said Fabian Nagel, CEO of SECARA. He said the company is developing the process as a potential route for recovering technical polymers from complex ELV waste streams.

The two companies have already been working on the development for about a year. Their initial objective is to balance caprolactam purity with processing costs so that the recycled feedstock can deliver performance comparable with virgin PA6.

Artur Völk, Circular and Low-Carbon Solutions Lead at Envalior, said chemical recycling could help address the closed-loop requirements in applications where mechanical recycling has technical limitations.

Envalior said the partnership forms part of its CARES sustainability strategy and is intended to develop recycled-material options that can be integrated into its existing automotive PA6 portfolio. The companies plan to continue evaluating the scalability and drop-in potential of SECARA-derived caprolactam.

Source: Envalior

SUNSHINE Spotlight: The Envalior-SECARA collaboration targets chemical recycling as a route to supply closed-loop PA6 for automotive applications under the EU’s emerging recycled-content requirements.