Adient, Jaguar Land Rover and Dow develop closed-loop polyurethane foam seats

BURSCHEID, Germany, Dec. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Adient, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Dow have worked together to produce seat foam for the luxury car manufacturer's vehicles using closed-loop recycled components. This represents an industry-first in the automotive sector, heading towards a circular economy and a lower CO₂ footprint for cars as the end product.

In order to address the environmental impact of polyurethane (PU) foams used in car seats, the industry partners decided to team up. This means so-called 'post-consumer' PU molded foams have previously been collected from end-of-life vehicles, sorted, and shredded. On this basis, Dow produces a new, circular polyol, which is subsequently processed and integrated into Adient's seating formulas. As a result, the Adient Front Seat Cushion prototypes are currently composed of 20% re-polyol from PU end-of-life vehicles.

This is the first time, to the awareness of all parties involved, that a PU molded foam for seating applications has been produced under these conditions. This milestone represents a significant leap forward for the automotive industry, positioning PU at the heart of a circular economy system. By integrating recycled components into luxury vehicle seat foams, the partners are not only reducing the environmental impact but also paving the way for a more sustainable future in automotive manufacturing.

"Developing components with closed-loop recycled foams represents a major milestone for the team and simultaneously spurs us on to continuously increase the proportion of recycled materials in our seating systems in the future," said Frank Toenniges, Director Sustainable Product Design & Business Process Improvements at Adient at Adient. "Additionally, it positions the actors along the value chain favorably to comply with the proposed European End-of-Life Directive."

Andrea Debbane, Chief Sustainability Officer at JLR stated: "This breakthrough is a great example of how the automotive value chain can work as a collective to demonstrate that full circularity is feasible and unlock meaningful change at scale. This way of working holds significant potential for increasing sustainability and is critical to JLR's transition to more circular vehicles."

As a next step, further research will be conducted 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 from early 2025.

About Adient:
Adient (NYSE: ADNT) is a global leader in automotive seating. With 70,000+ employees in 29 countries, Adient operates more than 200 manufacturing/assembly plants worldwide. We produce and deliver automotive seating for all major OEMs. From complete seating systems to individual foam, trim and metal components, our expertise spans every step of the automotive seat-making process. Our integrated, in-house skills allow us to take our products from research and design to engineering and manufacturing — and into millions of vehicles every year.

For more information, visit www.adient.com.

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