Glass fiber-reinforced Akulon RePurposed recyclate enables Ahrend sustainable office chair

Ahrend’s Remode sustainable office chair uses Envalior’s Akulon RePurposed material with 30% glass fiber. Source | Envalior, Ahrend

Envalior (Düsseldorf, Germany) has supported Dutch-based manufacturer Ahrend (Amsterdam, Netherlands) to deliver Remode, a sustainable office chair. The chair’s structural seat components, backrest mechanism and the star base are manufactured from Akulon RePurposed, a high-performance polyamide, made from recycled fishing nets. The mechanical recyclate from ghost fishing nets closes Remode’s value chain designed for recycling and reduces CO₂ emissions.

Giving a new life to ghost fishing nets

Currently, Envalior collects and recycles more than 3,000 tons of polyamide 6 ghost fishing nets that accumulate in Indian coastal regions. The company works closely with local partners to this end. The nets are cleaned, sorted, shredded, mixed with post-industrial waste and extruded into Akulon RePurposed regranulate. “In this way, we protect the marine environment and additionally contribute to social welfare by creating jobs and strengthening the local economy,” says van Osch.

The Remode office chair from Ahrend weighs only 15 kilograms — more than two-thirds of its weight is attributed to Envalior’s 30% glass fiber-reinforced recyclate Akulon RePurposed RE30, offering optimized mechanical properties. Akulon RePurposed RE30 contains a minimum of 62% recycled content, consisting of 50% ocean-bound plastic and 12% pre-consumer recycled content.

“By using this sustainable material, we can close the Remode value chain, which is designed for recycling, and reduce our CO₂ emissions,” says Arnoud Vlieger, head of product development at Ahrend. “In addition, the material enables a lightweight component solution with high material efficiency, which also contributes to lower CO₂ emissions.”

One of the strengths of the recyclate, which is reinforced with 30% short glass fibers, is its mechanical property profile, according to Envalior. “Our material doesn’t need to shy away from comparison with virgin material upon proper application,” explains Dr. Dannie van Osch, business development manager of specialties at Envalior. “Its stiffness, strength and toughness are so high that it could even be used to construct structural components of the seat, the backrest mechanism and the star base, which are subject to high static and dynamic loads. This has helped to make the Remode lighter.”

Envalior provided Ahrend and other project partners with comprehensive support during the development of the office chair. In addition to providing advice on the material choice, Envalior also helped to determine the optimum processing parameters for injection molding the components from Akulon RePurposed. “We helped to set up a stable and material-friendly production process that enables efficient and economical manufacture with good surface quality of the plastic parts,” says Van Osch.