COVESTRO
Funds for new CO2-to-plastics project / Production Dreams “redoubles” efforts
Covestro (Leverkusen / Germany; www.covestro.com), the former Bayer MaterialScience, has received fresh funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to continue its pioneering work on using carbon dioxide as a raw material in plastics production.
The engineering plastics producer is working with Germany’s RWTH Aachen University and the Technical University of Berlin on industrial-scale production of elastomers as an offshoot of a project that began in 2010 as a multi-stage “Production Dreams” scheme – see Plasteurope.com of 18.08.2010 – using CO2 power plant waste to make polyols. The ministry initially provided funding of EUR 4.5m over three years to take the work to its preliminary conclusion.
For the latest project, called “Production Dreams,” BMBF has earmarked funds of up to EUR 1.5m over three years as part of the ministry’s “r+Impulse – impetus for industrial resource efficiency” scheme within the “Research for Sustainable Development” (FONA) framework programme. By participating in the collaboration, Covestro is redoubling its efforts to develop cost-effective and climate-friendly production processes that use CO2 as an element in high-performance plastics, said project manager Jochen Norwig, who works in catalysis research.
Carbon dioxide is being used ever more widely as a novel starting material in plastics production, Covestro points out. Today, Norwig said, some 25% of the oil used to manufacture the elastomer precursor polyether carbonate polyurethane can be replaced with CO2. Individual batches of the innovative material have already been manufactured in the lab, and the current focus is on developing a continuous process that will support cost-effective production on an industrial scale.
Small-scale tests are said to have shown that elastomers manufactured using this process exhibit the same impressive qualities as those produced using only petrochemical raw materials. The new process the project partners want to develop and put into practice is much more energy-efficient and uses a much lower quantity of solvents, Covestro said. It therefore has “significantly better ecological credentials than conventional processes.” Using less petroleum also means that fewer processing steps are needed, thus reducing CO2 emissions and energy consumption, the company stressed.
Covestro and its academic partners were forerunners of the drive to use CO2 as a feedstock for polyurethane flexible foam. The plastics producer plans to open the first production facility this year at its Dormagen / Germany site, where it will manufacture a polyol with a 20% CO2 content – see Plasteurope.com of 08.06.2015. This will be used primarily in flexible foam applications such as upholstery and mattresses.
The engineering plastics producer is working with Germany’s RWTH Aachen University and the Technical University of Berlin on industrial-scale production of elastomers as an offshoot of a project that began in 2010 as a multi-stage “Production Dreams” scheme – see Plasteurope.com of 18.08.2010 – using CO2 power plant waste to make polyols. The ministry initially provided funding of EUR 4.5m over three years to take the work to its preliminary conclusion.
For the latest project, called “Production Dreams,” BMBF has earmarked funds of up to EUR 1.5m over three years as part of the ministry’s “r+Impulse – impetus for industrial resource efficiency” scheme within the “Research for Sustainable Development” (FONA) framework programme. By participating in the collaboration, Covestro is redoubling its efforts to develop cost-effective and climate-friendly production processes that use CO2 as an element in high-performance plastics, said project manager Jochen Norwig, who works in catalysis research.
Carbon dioxide is being used ever more widely as a novel starting material in plastics production, Covestro points out. Today, Norwig said, some 25% of the oil used to manufacture the elastomer precursor polyether carbonate polyurethane can be replaced with CO2. Individual batches of the innovative material have already been manufactured in the lab, and the current focus is on developing a continuous process that will support cost-effective production on an industrial scale.
Small-scale tests are said to have shown that elastomers manufactured using this process exhibit the same impressive qualities as those produced using only petrochemical raw materials. The new process the project partners want to develop and put into practice is much more energy-efficient and uses a much lower quantity of solvents, Covestro said. It therefore has “significantly better ecological credentials than conventional processes.” Using less petroleum also means that fewer processing steps are needed, thus reducing CO2 emissions and energy consumption, the company stressed.
Covestro and its academic partners were forerunners of the drive to use CO2 as a feedstock for polyurethane flexible foam. The plastics producer plans to open the first production facility this year at its Dormagen / Germany site, where it will manufacture a polyol with a 20% CO2 content – see Plasteurope.com of 08.06.2015. This will be used primarily in flexible foam applications such as upholstery and mattresses.
21.03.2016 Plasteurope.com [233644-0]
Published on 21.03.2016