Elkem achieves key milestone in advancing circular economy for silicones
Elkem is committed to reducing CO2 emissions and resource use to achieve climate-neutral production by 2050.
Elkem announced that it has successfully scaled its chemical silicone waste upcycling project from a laboratory phase to a pilot unit at its Saint-Fons production site in Lyon, France. This marks a significant milestone in the company’s efforts to drive the transition to a circular economy for silicones.
As part of its climate strategy, Elkem is committed to reducing CO2 emissions and resource use to achieve climate-neutral production by 2050. This commitment includes increasing recycling within its own operations and developing circular loops with customers and suppliers. In 2021, Elkem launched a collaborative project focused on breaking down silicone waste using eco-designed depolymerisation methods. The project led to the development of innovative routes and processes for recycling silicones, which are patented by Elkem and its partners and incorporated into the construction and operation of the Saint-Fons unit. Recycling silicones helps reduce their carbon footprint and supports the secure provision of critical raw materials, which are in rising demand due to the green transition and digitalisation.
The technical implementation of chemical recycling is now being carried out at a pilot scale, representing a major step in Elkem’s journey toward offering recycled silicones to the market. The pilot unit will provide vital information for scaling up the safe and energy-efficient recycling of silicones at an industrial level and will supply Elkem’s target customers with representative quantities of silicone containing recycled content.
Joséphine Munsch, the Sustainability Project Leader at Elkem, stated that as a manufacturer of silicones since 1948 and a leading global supplier, the company is dedicated to creating a circular economy for its products and giving them a second life. She emphasised that chemical recycling is a key technology to close the loop. Munsch highlighted that through Elkem’s innovative technology, the company can offer a solution for silicone waste, providing low-carbon alternatives that match the quality of products made from virgin materials.
Elkem’s patented depolymerisation process technologies provide several unique benefits, including low process temperatures, which help lower carbon emissions, high conversion rates, and chemical selectivity that minimises undesirable by-products and residues.
This project received funding from the France 2030 national innovation and industry investment programme, managed by ADEME (the French Agency for Ecological Transition), as well as the European Union’s NextGenerationEU fund.
Elkem’s collaborative project, known as the Resourcing Silicones Polymers (REPOS) project, focuses on developing eco-friendly depolymerisation chemistry to reduce silicone waste. REPOS has been developed with CP2M and IMP academic labs, and the SMEs Activation and Processium. This project received the support and funding from Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes et BPI France and labelled by Axelera.
The funded project ROSE UPP is dedicated to the scale up of chemical recycling technologies.
