Plastics processors are increasingly required to report and reduce their Product Carbon Footprint. However, most manufacturers don’t have accurate data on the CO2 emissions that are actually generated during the production of their products. They therefore refer to benchmark data and estimates. The new solution is intended to help companies determine their Product Carbon Footprint based on their own data.
“Accurate measurements of emissions are a prerequisite for identifying and visualizing potential improvements in the next step,” says Thomas Poddey, Project Manager for Sustainability & Digitalization at Meraxis Services GmbH and CO2ptiMat Project Manager at Meraxis. “Our digital solution shows how changes to the material composition, the energy mix and other parameters can impact productivity and costs.”
The digital solution will be connected to IT systems used in the production line, in order to collect and analyze all the emissions-related data. Together with its research partners, Meraxis is developing concepts for how this data needs to be merged and evaluated. Meraxis has extensive expertise in the development of digital solutions for the plastics industry. Among other things, the company has developed a digital customer portal and a tool that recommends the optimum material for the required application. The digital tool Co2ptiMat will subsequently be tested and validated under real-life conditions at REHAU Industries. In 2024, existing data points will be specifically added and the system network will be extended. This data input will be used to test CO2ptiMat during edgeband production at the Rehau plant. Daniel Elfe-Degel, Product Manager and Sustainability Officer Interior Solutions, explains what the Interior Solutions Division expects from this: “Additional data points will allow us to accurately record the CO2 emissions of our production. Using the digital solution, we will then be able to create simulations, as well as identify and implement potential savings. In future, all the companies involved in the supply chain will collect their data and make this available. This will be an entirely novel approach to the decarbonization process.”
CO2ptiMat is one of a total of 21 projects that are being funded as part of the BMWK’s GreenTech Innovation competition. The Ministry’s initiative supports digital innovations that will help the economy achieve greater sustainability, along with climate and environmental protection. In addition to Meraxis Services and REHAU Industries, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology, the INC Invention Center on RWTH Aachen Campus and the film producer Terdex are also involved in CO2ptiMat.
The CO2ptiMat project will be funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action for the next three years.
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