Trinseo and BASF announced the intention to expand their businesses with the production of styrene based on circular feedstock. The collaboration aims to increase efforts by both companies in the development and management of styrene featuring an improved environmental profile.

Trinseo has recently been procuring first supplies of the synthetical chemical styrene based on circular feedstock from BASF for use in its Solution-Styrene Butadiene Rubber (S-SBR) and polystyrene (PS) products. Trinseo supplies S-SBR to major tires manufacturers while its PS products are used in applications such as food packaging and appliances. The first few customers have already processed the material.

“By creating synergy across the value chain, the Trinseo-BASF collaboration is an important move towards helping our customers reach their sustainability goals as well as the development of a truly circular economy,” says Nicolas Joly, vice president, plastics & feedstocks of Trinseo. “The initiative is also in line with Trinseo’s 2030 Sustainability Goals announced earlier this year.”

“CO₂ emission reduction and a circular economy are BASF’s paramount targets. Using circular feedstocks instead of virgin fossil resources contributes directly or indirectly to an improved CO₂ footprint of subsequent products,” says Klaus Ries, vice president for BASF’s styrenics business Europe. “While our customer Trinseo procures biomass balanced (BMB) styrene for their downstream business already, styrene Ccycled will be available in the near future”.

Two Types of Mass Balanced Styrene

There are two types of styrene BASF can produce with a mass balance approach — renewable feedstock based-styrene and styrene based on chemically recycled feedstock. Mass balance is a chain of custody model designed to keep track of the total amount of input (e. g. circular feedstock) throughout the production cycle and ensure an appropriate allocation to the finished goods. Both of these alternative feedstocks replace a certain amount of virgin fossil resources at the beginning of the value chain — leading to a reduction of CO₂ emissions.

To produce BMB styrene, BASF replaces fossil resources like naphtha or natural gas by renewable feedstocks derived from organic waste or vegetable oils. When manufacturing Ccycled products, BASF uses pyrolysis oil derived from plastic waste that is not recycled mechanically, e.g., mixed household waste or end-of-life tires, as a feedstock, thus contributing to plastics circularity.

With this approach Trinseo and BASF say they can offer products with a better environmental profile and the same properties as those manufactured from fossil feedstock. The allocation process via the mass balance approach as well as the products are certified by an independent auditor.

Read more about BASF’s ChemCycling project here.