Green Chemistry – Trilateral MSc Green Chemistry Program Offered by TU Wien, Uni Wien, and BOKU

Two Lectures

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Meet Dr. Jens Hamprecht

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Possibility to ask questions about Green Chemistry

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Dr. Jens Hamprecht

Dr. Jens Hamprecht, Vice President BASF SE, is responsible for the coordination of the Global Plastics Steering Committee of BASF. This committee defines the roadmap for the transformation of BASF plastics portfolio towards a circular economy. In his role he draws on deep expertise he has gained over 20 years in the social, technological, economic, ecological, and political (STEEP) framework conditions that companies need to succeed in a circular economy. At ETH Zurich, he has previously led academic research on circular economy strategies in companies. He started his academic journey with a PhD on circular economy at University of St. Gallen, financed by Nestle Corporate Technologies.
On business travels in South-East Asia, he observed the increasing pollution of the marine environment with plastic waste. He co-founded Plastic Recovery Land & Sea (PRLS). The focus of operations is on North Sulawesi, Indonesia, where he empowers a local NGO, the No-Trash Triangle Initiative, to scale its plastic waste collection, supported by the German Development Agency (GIZ) and by private partners. Dr. Hamprecht holds a master’s degree in engineering from ETH Zurich, following studies at ETH and Imperial College London (ICL).

A Circular Economy for Plastics: The Journey of BASF

Climate change and plastic waste in the environment require urgent action. In this lecture, we discuss the journey of BASF SE to realize a more sustainable and circular plastics value chain. As starting point, we summarize the current research on planetary boundaries. We review different approaches to reduce the carbon footprint of the plastics industry and the actions that BASF takes. Since 1990, BASF has reduced its annual greenhouse gas emissions by almost 50%. Looking forward, we discuss the next steps of BASF in scaling renewable energy, and in reducing CO2 emissions in production and in the supply of raw materials. The second part of the presentation shifts the focus from reducing CO2 emissions to changing the feedstock for production of chemicals and plastics. We discuss the innovations and collaborations of BASF to realize recycled feedstock and biobased feedstock for plastics. We conclude with a summary of the company’s measures to create a circular economy for plastics with its partners.

Plastics Recycling: a system innovation approach

Recycling of plastics at scale requires several levels of innovation: It necessitates new recycling technologies but also innovation in the design of products and in our habits as consumers. Also, to finance plastic waste collection globally, new financial models are required. We illustrate the needs for these innovations and the actions of BASF in the field of plastic recycling. Hereby we discuss the company’s activities along two loops: First, the recycling loop with technologies such as mechanical recycling, depolymerization, solvent-based recycling, pyrolysis, or gasification of plastics. Second, the loop in the biosphere with materials designed for biodegradation in compost or in soil. For each of these approaches, we discuss case studies of BASF. We take an interdisciplinary perspective and discuss necessary innovations in process development, product development, analytics, as well innovation needed in policies and standard setting.