Covestro and puren take next step to improve the environmental footprint of purenit®

puren and Covestro continue to jointly advance the functional material purenit^®. On the occasion of the inauguration of a new production line at the Obermarchtal site, puren has now certified its entire purenit^® production to the ISCC PLUS standard. This certification lays the groundwork for puren to use Desmodur^® CQ MS from Covestro as a binder, forming the basis for the next step in improving the environmental footprint of purenit^®. At the inauguration event, puren announced a first product built on this basis, with market launch planned for 2027.

"With ISCC PLUS certification across our entire purenit^® production we have the basis to use Desmodur^® CQ MS from Covestro as a binder with bio-circular¹ attributed raw materials." says Dr. Andreas Huther, Managing Director of puren gmbh. “For our customers, this means the same material, the same performance and less CO₂ emissions and thus a material that takes a further step forward towards more sustainability and circularity. Sustainability therefore becomes a key performance indicator.”

"Desmodur^® CQ MS is based on climate-neutral² MDI made from bio-circular¹ feedstocks and certified through the mass balance approach," says Hermann Dörholt, Head of the Performance Materials business entity at Covestro. "This gives puren a raw material that delivers a lower carbon footprint while keeping processing unchanged. This kind of collaboration across the value chain is exactly what turns a single innovation into a measurable contribution for the whole industry and its customers."

A material made from residues

purenit^® is a highly compressed functional material based on rigid polyurethane foam (PUR/PIR) with a density of around 550 kg/m³. Despite its low weight, it is pressure-resistant, moisture-resistant and dimensionally stable, provides reliable insulation, and can be sawed, milled, drilled and glued with standard woodworking machinery. These properties make it a core material for windows, doors, facades and base areas in construction, for bathrooms, wellness areas and outdoor kitchens, and for interior fit-out in motorhomes, commercial vehicles and ships.
purenit^® is produced using an adhesive-press process in which polyurethane residual materials are processed into homogeneous boards. This upcycling approach, turning a byproduct of PU production into a standalone, high-quality material, is unique in the insulation industry in this consistency.

ISCC PLUS certification for more sustainability

The use of Desmodur^® CQ MS relies on the mass balance approach: bio-circular¹ feedstocks are physically blended in at an earlier stage of production and then mathematically allocated to the final product. ISCC PLUS independently verifies this allocation across the entire supply chain. Only full certification of purenit^® production to this standard allows puren to correctly represent the bio-circular¹ raw material and the associated improvement in sustainability.

Collaboration across the value chain

Covestro supplies Desmodur^® CQ MS, a raw material with a reduced carbon footprint, and puren processes it into a material that itself is built on the recovery of PU residual materials. The result is a product that benefits from circular thinking at two points in the value chain: the raw material and the material concept itself. For the polyurethane industry as a whole, this example shows that circular economy is already reflected today in certified, market-ready products. The new purenit^® product using Desmodur^® CQ MS as a binder was announced at the inauguration event. Market launch is planned for 2027.

¹Bio-circular materials are derived from waste and residues of biological origin.

²Climate neutrality is the result of an internal assessment of a partial product life cycle from raw material extraction (cradle) to the factory gate (of Covestro), also known as cradle-to-gate assessment. The methodology of our LCA with external audit and certification is based on the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. The calculation takes into account biogenic carbon sequestration based on preliminary data from the supply chain. No compensation measures were applied.