Covestro pushing boundaries with future mobility concept, sustainability goals

From auto interiors to recycled-content polycarbonates, blockchain technology for plastics and connected homes, Covestro AG is offering the full package for a variety of industries at K 2019.

Depicting on this year's motto #pushingboundaries, the company's key exhibit is centered around future mobility, delivering a car that fits seamlessly with a futuristic connected, automated and digitalized lifestyle.

The company unveiled an automotive interior concept that would "redefine the use of a vehicle" and provide a multifunctional mobile living and working space, which could integrate into everyday life, offering "the greatest possible autonomy."

The focus is on multisensor infotainment systems, innovative seating concepts, smart surfaces and personalized lighting, all using Covestro's high-tech materials.

The concept car features what is claimed to be the first fully illuminated dashboard: a three-dimensional multifunctional display made from Covestro's Makrolon Ai polycarbonate and Makrofol polycarbonate film.

The display uses a combination of in-mold decoration (IMD) and film-insert molding (FIM) technologies to provide surface design and durability.

In addition, the car will highlight Covestro's accomplishments in functional surfaces, achieved through using polycarbonates, waterproof and breathable coating materials and a combination of other materials such as wood, stone and aluminum.

Without a designated driver's seat, the car offers a comfortable sitting environment with ambient lighting technology to provide a relaxed setting, Jochen Hardt, of global marketing mobility at Covestro, said while unveiling the concept car.

Apart from mobility goals, Covestro has set its sight firmly on providing sustainable solutions in the transition from a linear plastics economy to a circular model.

"If you take away all the noise and all the challenges we are facing in the plastics industry, including public perception of plastics and societal challenges … I believe that [plastics], and Covestro in particular, are well-positioned to be a solution provider," CEO Markus Steilemann said in an Oct. 15 media event, just prior to the opening of K 2019.

Guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and through the increasing use of digitalization, Covestro expects to be well-equipped to face future challenges.

Just two days ahead of K, the Leverkusen, Germany-based company announced the launch of a strategic program to promote circular economy, highlighting its efforts in the use of CO2 as raw materials.

The aim is to achieve "the greatest possible departure from fossil resources such as crude oil."

This approach, Covestro expects, will open up entirely new business opportunities.

"The great challenges of our time, such as climate change and the increasing consumption of resources by the growing world population, make truly sustainable ways of living and economies an indispensable necessity," Steilemann said.

"The linear patterns in consumption and production based on one-time use have become obsolete," he added.

With this emphasis on recycling, Covestro is presenting a new concept for post-consumer recycled polycarbonate waste and its use in the electronics industries.

This involves the production of a new polycarbonate, which will be supplied to a manufacturer of five-gallon water bottles.

The customer then delivers the bottles to a water producer, which then provides the filled containers to consumers.

The bottles, according to Covestro, can be reused up to 50 times.

At the end of life, the post-consumer recyclate is processed by Covestro to form a polycarbonate blend, which is used by OEMs to produce new laptops, copiers, printers, mobile chargers for smartphones and other electronic devices.

In another project, Covestro is working with partners on the recycling of PET bottles together with polycarbonate.

As part of this, both plastics are processed into a PC-PET blend from which new, high-quality products can be manufactured, according to Covestro.

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On a similar note, Covestro, along with nylon specialist Domo Chemicals and a Dutch startup called Circularise, are presenting at K a collaborative project for circularity in the plastics industry based on blockchain technology.

The newly formed Circularise Plastics project group aims to set up an open standard for sustainability and transparency within plastics.

The trio will use technology developed by Circularise, which uses blockchain and zero-knowledge proof to create an open protocol for a trusted data exchange without public disclosure of datasets or supply chain partners.

Unlike other blockchain transparency solutions, Circularise's technology, called "smart questioning," protects a company's privacy and proprietary information, meaning that confidentiality and competitive advantage are always maintained.

The concept involves a seven-step process whereby the source material can be followed through a blockchain pathway, ensuring end-to-end product traceability and provenance.

If ultimately accepted by the original information holder, such as a processor, the OEM can access important information and make statements accordingly.

The solution offers two basic main advantages over other initiatives. The open protocol will enable an industry standard on any blockchain and avoid monopoly. The Smart Questioning technology safeguards privacy while still allowing for transparency.

The Circularise Plastics project, according to the partners, is at a very early stage and the objective at K 2019 is to raise interest among value chain partners who are willing to join the consortium in the ideation and testing phase.

For the home environment, the German materials supplier is targeting a more "automated, personalized, humanized, integrated and interactive" setting, using digitalization, internet of things and artificial intelligence.

The company is presenting five trendsetting design concepts and prototypes for next-generation household appliances at its stand at K.

These include, among others, an intuitive IoT control device with personalized access control and tangible user experience, a portable air treatment unit with rechargeable lithium-ion battery and motion sensor with a high degree of standardization and an intelligent skin care unit with sensor and light treatment functions and refillable cream cartridge to eliminate the need for disposable packs.