— By Plasteurope.com correspondent — 

Irish car seat manufacturer Adient (Dublin; www.adient.com), US chemicals and plastics producer Dow (Midland, Michigan; www.dow.com), and UK luxury automotive group Jaguar Land Rover (JLR, Coventry; www.jaguarlandrover.com) have partnered to drive circularity in polyurethane foams for automotive seating applications.

The three automotive value chain partners have teamed up to address the environmental impact of PU foams used in car seats by developing a means to produce seat foams with closed-loop recycled components. 

Post-consumer PU moulded foams from end-of-life vehicles have previously been collected, sorted, and shredded. Through the partnership, Dow uses the shredded material to produce a new, circular polyol, which is subsequently processed and integrated into seating foam formulas by Adient.

Related: Thermal insulation PU foam from bio-polyols made of cherry seeds

The car seat giant said it has produced front seat cushion prototypes that currently are composed of 20% re-polyol from PU sourced from end-of-life-vehicles.

Adient plans to conduct further research to increase the percentage of re-polyol content. At the same time, the closed-loop seat foam will be tested with JLR on a production scale starting in early 2025, Adient said.

According to all parties involved, this is the first time that PU-moulded foam for seating applications has been produced under these conditions.