Covestro has opened a new pilot plant for the chemical recycling of high-performance elastomers at its Leverkusen site in Germany. This double-digit million-euro project moves a novel recycling process for Vulkollan from laboratory development into pilot operation.

As one of the first installations of its kind worldwide for this material class, the pilot plant marks a pioneering step toward future-proof circular solutions for high-performance elastomers.

Representatives from Covestro and across the value chain come together to mark the opening of the new elastomer recycling pilot plant.

From laboratory scale to technical validation

At the heart of the project is Vulkollan, a high-performance polyurethane elastomer used in forklift wheels, railway buffer elements, automotive jounce bumpers, and vibration control components.

Covestro’s chemical recycling process breaks selected end-of-life Vulkollan material down into purified building blocks for reuse. It enables more than 90% of the material by mass to be recycled and can reduce the carbon footprint by up to two thirds compared with fossil-based virgin material.

The new pilot plant takes the technology beyond the laboratory, enabling Covestro to test different waste streams, refine the process and generate the data needed for future industrial scale-up.

Building a circular value chain

Covestro is working with customers, recyclers, waste collectors, logistics providers and other partners to develop the collection and return systems needed for future closed-loop solutions.

These partnerships will be essential to securing suitable end-of-life materials, maintaining consistent feedstock quality and establishing an economically viable circular value chain for high-performance elastomers.

Building on the work with Vulkollan, Covestro also aims to use this pilot plant to explore circular solutions for selected specialty cast elastomers and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU).