Covestro begins delivery of CO2-consuming polyol
15/12/2016
Chief executive, Patrick Thomas, said in the autumn that Covestro was pleased to have discovered a way to turn a greenhouse gas into material its customers can use to make foams and other plastics. Previous attempts to do this had been unsuccessful because carbon dioxide is very slow to react, Mr Thomas said at the time, adding that his company had “pushed existing boundaries” to develop a special catalyst that is “key to the synthesis”.
Serving as a precursor in the development of various plastics products, the polyol takes 20% of its raw material from carbon dioxide, reducing the amount of petroleum-based raw material required. The first tanker-load of the new polyol left Covestro’s production facility near Cologne on December 13.
The company has said its lab tests of variations using up to 40% carbon dioxide look promising. It has also said it is willing to license the technology to other operators in the plastics industry.
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