BASF Launches World’s First Polyamide 6 Recycling Plant in Shanghai

BASF announced the launch of the world’s first commercial Loopamid® production unit. Located at the Caojing site in Shanghai, China, the unit has an annual production capacity of 500 metric tons, marking an important step for BASF in the sustainable product supply of the textile industry.

The production unit uses chemical recycling technology to convert waste polyamide (PA6) textiles into high-purity recycled raw materials, breaking through the limitations of traditional processes and achieving large-scale recycling of spandex blended fabrics.

Stephan Kothrade, Member of the Board of Executive Directors and Chief Technology Officer of BASF SE, said: “The commissioning of this plant once again demonstrates BASF’s innovative strength. As an important part of the ‘Winning Way’ strategy, we use chemical technology to develop solutions to meet the major challenges of our time. Loopamid® transforms textile waste into valuable resources, helping to save raw materials and achieve a closed loop in the textile industry.”

Loopamid® is a recycled polyamide 6 based entirely on post-industrial and post-consumer waste textiles. Its raw materials include production waste from the textile industry such as clothing scraps, and even end-of-life clothing made of polyamide 6 and other materials. The products are all certified by the Global Recycling Standard (GRS).

Ramkumar Dhruva, President of BASF’s Monomer Division, said: “The technology behind Loopamid® enables the recycling of textiles, covering a wide range of textile waste, including polyamide 6 mixed with elastic fibers. I believe that Loopamid® not only makes a significant contribution to the circular economy of textiles, but also helps our customers achieve their sustainability goals.”

The production process of Loopamid® includes collection and sorting, shredding, depolymerization into monomers, purification, polymerization, spinning and finished product production. The technical difficulty lies in the fact that the raw materials are usually composed of different fibers, materials, dyes and additives, and accessories such as buttons and zippers need to be removed before recycling. BASF has successfully achieved closed-loop recycling of polyamide 6 textiles, including various blended fabrics, such as fabrics containing spandex. This breakthrough makes the production of sustainable textiles more feasible and provides new possibilities for the development of the circular economy in the industry.