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A new extruded foam made from polybutylene succinate (PBS), developed by the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE, offers industrial companies a direct path to sustainable material solutions – without the need to invest in new equipment. This approach simultaneously addresses CO₂ reduction, compliance with regulatory requirements, and economic efficiency.
The “PBS Extrusion Foam (xPBS)” project has successfully developed a bio-based foam made from polybutylene succinate. Thanks to its unique properties, it can replace conventional polyethylene (PE) foams in key applications – such as packaging, protective and transport solutions, and construction applications. In these high-volume markets in particular, regulatory requirements and increasing sustainability demands are driving the need for bio-based materials.
A key factor for industry is that xPBS functions as a so-called drop-in solution. The foam can be processed on existing extrusion lines without requiring major investments in retrofitting. This gives companies the opportunity to make their products more sustainable in the short term without fundamentally changing existing processes.
Fraunhofer expertise meets industrial feasibility
The project’s success is based on close collaboration among several Fraunhofer CCPE institutes and their expertise across the entire value chain. While Fraunhofer ICT drove the formulation and process development of the foaming process as well as the upscaling to pilot-scale plants, Fraunhofer IAP focused on polymer synthesis and the targeted adjustment of material properties.
Through this integration of material and process development, a PBS foam was produced that performs not only in the laboratory but also under realistic production conditions. “Our goal was to develop a material solution that can be used directly in industry,” explains Anja Dennard, project manager at Fraunhofer ICT. “The fact that we can now produce PBS foams with properties comparable to PE on an industrial scale is a first and a decisive step toward practical application.”
Balancing Performance and Sustainability
The developed PBS foams achieve densities on par with established LDPE materials and can be processed reliably. This makes them suitable for numerous applications where fossil-based foams have been used until now.
At the same time, the material offers significant environmental benefits: PBS is bio-based, biodegradable, and can be recycled due to its thermoplastic nature. For companies, this means they can achieve their sustainability goals without having to compromise on technical performance.
Market proximity creates competitive advantages
With the achieved technological maturity, the transition from development to industrial application is significantly shortened. Companies benefit from low implementation risk and a clear path to scaling up. At the same time, future regulatory requirements – such as those related to sustainability and recyclability – can be met early on.
This makes xPBS not only a technological innovation but also a strategic tool for positioning oneself competitively against more sustainable alternatives to conventional plastic foams.
Outlook: New markets through xPBS-food
With the follow-up project xPBS-food, which launched in January 2026, the technology is being specifically adapted for the sensitive field of food packaging. The goal of the joint project between the Fraunhofer CCPE Institutes ICT; IAP, LBF, and IVV is to develop a food-safe, PBS-based, monomaterial foam packaging solution that meets functional and sensory requirements while also being recyclable or biodegradable. This opens up another, particularly high-growth application area and demonstrates how the technology can be scaled to new markets.
The xPBS project demonstrates that sustainable plastic solutions are already economically and industrially viable today – and opens up concrete opportunities for companies to actively shape the transformation.
https://www.ccpe.fraunhofer.de/en.html (Fraunhofer CCPE)
xPBS foam sheet
Copyright: Fraunhofer ICT
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