Nova-Institute: CO₂ as Chemical Feedstock for Polymers

Nova-Institute has published a completely revised and extended third version of its technology and trend report “Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) as Chemical Feedstock for Polymers – Technologies, Polymers, Developers and Producers”. The nova report addresses the polymer industry, brands, technology scouts, investors, and policy makers.

The organic chemistry and plastics sectors cannot be decarbonised, simply because carbon is the main atom in their material structures. In this context, renewable alternatives to fossil feedstocks are needed, which have already been available for a long time, thanks to intensive research. Chemicals and polymers are already being produced today using renewable carbon, which is carbon from biomass and recycling – and also from CO₂.

nova-Institute’s technology and trend report “Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) as Chemical Feedstock for Polymers – Technologies, Polymers, Developers and Producers” examines this alternative, renewable carbon source in detail: which polymers can be produced from CO₂, and by which processes? How far have the technologies already been developed, optimised and implemented in pilot, demonstration and (semi)commercial plants? Which companies and institutes are working on technologies to produce polymers or building blocks from CO₂?

As nova-Institute shows in its report, the potential and the actual production capacity for CO₂-based polymers is much larger than commonly assumed and discussed. The production capacity, mainly for polycarbonates and polyols for polyurethanes production, already amounts to more than 850 kt per year today, with an average weighted CO₂-based carbon content of currently only 5.4 %. Nine companies were considered, mainly located in Asia, Europe and North America.

The third version of the nova-Institutes Technology and Trend Report spans 100 pages and gives a comprehensive overview of the different production routes of CO₂-based polymers that are developed and commercialised by research groups of industrial key players, start-ups and institutes. A total of at least 40 companies and research projects from Asia, Europe and North America are working on CO₂-based polymers and are presented in this report.

The third version of the technology and trend report “Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) as Chemical Feedstock for Polymers – Technologies, Polymers, Developers and Producers” is now available for EUR 1,000 – in addition further market studies on various topics on the bio-based and CO₂-based economy as well as on recycling can be found at: www.renewable-carbon.eu/publications.

www.nova-institute.eu