— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

Romania’s Chimcomplex (Bucharest; www.chimcomplex.com) said it plans to develop and produce CO₂-based polyols in collaboration with UK catalyst specialist Econic Technologies (Alderley Park; www.econic-technologies.com). The companies recently signed a corresponding letter of intent.

Should a plant be built in Romania, for example at Chimcomplex’s Borzesti site, it would be the first time Econic grants a licence on the European continent. The technology developed by the UK firm is said to be capable of replacing up to 30% of fossil feedstocks currently used with CO₂. The companies did not provide any information on planned capacities or investment amounts.

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Econic is several steps ahead in Asia and the US. Founded in 2011 as a spin-off from Imperial College London, the company has formed partnerships in these regions over the past two years.

Such collaborations include an agreement with Chinese polyol and polyurethane systems producer Changhua Chemical Technology, which has already begun construction of a plant with a capacity of 80,000 t/y. Monument Chemical in the US was followed by Manali Petrochemicals in India, which plans to retrofit all of its 12,000 reactors with the technology. And finally, the UK firm signed a contract with Sanyo Chemical in April 2024.

With these prospective buyers on the table, Econic launched a further financing round in mid-October to advance the commercialisation of its technology. The first materials are to be launched this year, though Econic did not say which partnership would be involved.

— Translated by Christopher Köbel