Novomer (Waltham, Massachusetts / USA; www.novomer.com) has completed the world’s first large-scale run of polypropylene carbonate (PPC) polyols produced from waste CO₂ – see Plasteurope.com of 18.08.2010. The US polymer technology start-up, which has been working with a USD 25m grant from the US Department of Energy, turned out more than 7 t of finished product using a process scaled up with the help of US fine chemicals producer Albemarle (Baton Rouge, Louisiana; www.albemarle.com) at Albemarle’s Orangeburg, South Carolina, site.

The material produced, a 1,000 molecular weight PP diol, will be used to accelerate product qualification and adoption of the process in a wide range of conventional polyurethane applications, including flexible and rigid foams, adhesives and sealants, as well as coatings and elastomers. Novomer is also working closely with other polyurethanes industry players to enable commercial scale production. David Decuir, Albemarle’s custom services business director, said his company is “very confident” that it will be able to commercially produce the PPC polyols at Orangeburg.

The polyols based on the co-polymerisation of CO₂ and epoxides are designed to replace conventional petrochemical-based polyols. The end product contains more than 40% CO₂ by weight. Also because waste CO₂ costs less than conventional feedstocks, the PPC polyol will be cheaper to produce, Novomer said. In other polymer fields, the company is receiving support from Eastman (Kingsport, Tennessee / USA; www.eastman.com) and DSM (Sittard / The Netherlands; www.dsm.com).

In the “Dream Reaction” / “Dream Production” project it is pursuing up to 2015 with the Technical University Aachen / Germany, Bayer MaterialScience (BMS, Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayerbms.com) operates a pilot plant at Leverkusen to test processes for producing polyether polycarbonate polyols (PPPs) from carbon dioxide – see Plasteurope.com of 24.04.2012. Simultaneously, it is researching applications for the new polyols.