Evonik and Schneider Electric have agreed a collaboration that signals a shift toward data-driven circularity in plastics processing.
The partnership centers on automating Evonik’s thermoplastic pilot plant in Essen, using Schneider Electric’s open automation systems to optimize additive performance, streamline operations, and scale up circular recycling solutions.
While mechanical recycling remains central to the plastics value chain, it continues to suffer from inconsistent feedstock quality, process inefficiencies, and limited traceability. The new initiative addresses these gaps by merging Evonik’s expertise in high-performance additives with Schneider Electric’s digitalization and automation platforms, aiming to increase the efficiency and reproducibility of thermoplastic recycling processes.
Automation in polymer processing has long been constrained by fragmented data systems and proprietary control platforms. Schneider Electric’s open automation approach—applied here for the first time in thermoplastic recycling—seeks to counter these barriers. By centralizing data from multiple machines into a unified system, the plant will be able to contextualize operational data in real time, enabling predictive analytics, process optimization, and reduced manual input.
For Evonik, the project forms part of its broader Next Markets Program, which emphasizes innovation in circular chemistry. The Essen site’s pilot plant serves as a proving ground for this integration—its outputs could inform both the development of new recycling additives and the digital frameworks that make their application more scalable.
From Schneider Electric’s perspective, the collaboration demonstrates the company’s push into industrial digitalization for sustainability. The technical foundation of the partnership hinges on two interlinked objectives: improving data granularity and accelerating scalability. The system’s architecture will collect and correlate information across mechanical and chemical process steps—such as compounding, filtration, and extrusion—creating a feedback loop between additive formulation and recycling performance. This data will support process optimization not only within the pilot plant but also in Evonik’s broader additive portfolio, allowing for quantified performance benchmarking across different material streams.
By reducing manual intervention and standardizing data access, the collaboration aims to lower energy use and processing variability—two chronic inefficiencies in mechanical recycling. In addition, the ability to validate performance improvements through structured data could shorten the time-to-market for new additives, while offering recyclers and compounders more predictable process control.
The implications reach beyond plastics recycling alone. The project’s open, interoperable architecture positions it as a model for broader industrial decarbonization. As automation systems evolve toward modular, vendor-agnostic frameworks, this approach could inform future initiatives in polymer manufacturing, chemical processing, and industrial electrification—fields increasingly converging under the umbrella of the circular economy.
