A container manufactured from industrial carbon emissions is the first of its kind, according to French energy and petrochemicals group Total (Paris / France; www.total.com). The company said it worked with US-based gas fermentation technology specialist LanzaTech (Roselle, Illinois / USA; www.lanzatech.com) and French cosmetics giant L'Oréal to develop the bottle.

Total explained the process. LanzaTech captures industrial carbon emissions and converts them into ethanol with a biological process. Total then employs a dehydration process to convert the ethanol into ethylene, making polyethylene with a technology developed with French partners IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN, Rueil-Malmaison; www.ifpenergiesnouvelles.com) and Axens (Rueil-Malmaison; www.axens.net) – see Plasteurope.com of 31.03.2014. Lastly, L'Oréal uses the polyethylene to make the container.

PE from the process can be used to produce packaging with the same quality and properties as conventional material, Total said, noting that the partners now intend to continue to work together on scaling the production of such sustainable plastics while looking forward to cooperating with others committed to the use of such materials.

“This partnership is an excellent example of collaboration between industrial firms in developing the plastics of the future produced from recycled carbon and meets a strong demand from our customers,” said Valérie Goff, Total's senior vice-president for polymers.