Taking a huge step in its commitment to reduce its use of fossil-based materials while at the same time increasing the share of renewable and recycled materials, furniture giant Ikea (Leiden / The Netherlands; www.ikea.com) in early March signed a supply, collaboration and technology agreement with sustainable materials company Newlight Technologies (Costa Mesa, California / USA; http://newlight.com). Under the terms of the deal, Ikea will purchase 50% of the “AirCarbon” thermoplastic produced at Newlight’s 23,000 t/y plant in California, and will have the exclusive rights in the home furnishings industry to use the US group’s carbon capture technology to convert bio-based greenhouse gases into thermoplastics, which it will use in its home furnishing products.

The two companies also agreed to identify and select low-cost carbon sources and develop Newlight’s technology using a range of renewable substrates. The long-term goal is to develop capacities of more than 450,000 t/y. The AirCarbon plant currently uses biogas as carbon feedstock, but is expected to expand to other materials, including carbon dioxide, in the future.

The arrangement will help Ikea realise its sustainability strategy, launched in 2014, and which includes developing a low carbon material strategy (see Plasteurope.com of 03.11.2014). Commenting on the agreement, Minh Nguyen Hoang, category manager of Plastics at the furniture giant, said, “We believe our partnership with Newlight has the potential, once fully scaled, to be an important component of our multi-pronged effort to provide Ikea’s customers with affordable plastics products made from renewable resources.” The company’s long-term goal is for all plastic materials used in its home furnishing products – which makes up about 40% of the group’s entire plastics volumes – to be made of renewable or recycled material.

Newlight recently signed a deal with The Body Shop (London / UK; www.thebodyshop.com), which also plans to introduce packaging based on AirCarbon (see Plasteurope.com of 11.02.2016). The high-performance, long-chain thermoplastic material is created by the combination of air and carbon emissions and is said to be a suitable replacement for oil-based plastics. Newlight produces the material at the world’s only commercial-scale greenhouse gas-to-AirCarbon manufacturing facility, located in California.

Carbon technology is a rapidly developing field that is becoming increasingly popular. Another player active in CO₂ technology is Covestro (Leverkusen / Germany; www.covestro.com) – the former Bayer MaterialScience. In summer this year, the German company will start up its CO₂-based PU feedstock production plant in Dormagen / Germany (see Plasteurope.com of 24.04.2012).