BASF - Renewable Materials Conference

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Around 111.000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio comprises six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of €78.6 billion in 2021.

BASF is driving circular economy by making the most of the limited resources of our planet: In addition to new business models, and new material cycles, renewable and recycled feedstocks from sustainable sources can support in closing the loops. A range of different approaches to redesigning products and processes towards more sustainable solutions is needed, some of which may become effective earlier and enable the transition to circular economy, until new technologies and assets will be established at the necessary scale. A certified mass balance chain of custody is an example for a pragmatic approach to speed up the transition to products derived from such circular feedstocks for all market players. Using this approach, circular feedstocks can replace fossil feedstocks in existing efficient, complex, and interlinked productions systems. The resulting quality and properties of the products can be maintained, while greenhouse gas emissions and fossil feedstock inputs are being reduced.

BASF’s biomass balance (BMB) approach contributes to the use of renewable raw materials in BASF’s integrated production system and can be applied to the majority of BASF’s product portfolio. The sustainability benefits of BMB products include fossil resource savings and a reduced carbon footprint through uptake of biogenic carbon. The communication of the sustainability benefits requires a comprehensive and meaningful method to account for the footprint of biogenic carbon and to allocate it to the actors along the value chains. With ChemCycling^™, BASF manufactures high-performance products from chemically recycled plastic waste on an industrial scale. BASF cooperates with technology partners who transform plastic waste into pyrolysis oil. This oil is fed into BASF’s Verbund and attributed to sales products by using a third-party audited mass balance approach. Chemical recycling is an essential complementary option to mechanical recycling of plastic waste. As part of our stakeholder dialog, we aim at creating transparency about life-cycle assessment (LCA) of chemical recycling.

For more information, visit basf.com and www.basf.com/mass-balance