13 December 2016
DETAILS
Innovation on the plastics market:
Materials manufacturer Covestro
has begun delivery of a novel product
based on carbon dioxide.
The first tanker left the company’s Dormagen site
near Cologne, Germany, on Tuesday.
Covestro has now officially started production
in the plant it inaugurated in Dormagen
this past summer.
The plant uses the climate gas
to produce a key component for
foams used in mattresses and upholstered furniture.
The CO2 serves as a new raw material,
replacing a portion of the petroleum
on which the precursor is usually based.
This contributor to sustainability
and pioneering scientific achievement
has now commenced industrial production.
Covestro is working to integrate even more
carbon dioxide into its products.
In the case of the precursor from the Dormagen plant,
a “polyol,”
the CO2 content is roughly 20 percent.
Other projects have already achieved contents
of over 40 percent in the lab.
Covestro is also striving to use carbon dioxide
for the manufacture of other products
besides flexible foam.
Potential products that have already been tested
in the lab include
precursors for rigid foam and elastomers.
The company is also willing to license the technology.
This would conserve limited petroleum resources
throughout the industry while reducing refining,
which is energy and emissions intensive.
Milestone reached
Dr. Karsten Malsch
Project Manager
“We have reached another milestone.
The plant is running smoothly, and
the first shipment of our new flexible foam component
made with CO2 is on its way to the customer,”
“We have been working continuously toward
this moment ever since our initial research
several years ago. We are thrilled
to have reached this point and are using
it as motivation to continue our efforts in this area.”
Contact Covestro
Markus Kleine-Beck
Telephone +49 214 6009 6697
Email: markus.kleine-beck @covestro.com
WWW.CHEMWINFO.COM BY KHUN PHICHAI
