Project of the Month: Converting carbon dioxide into a raw material for increased sustainability and a more circular economy

The carbon dioxide (CO₂) utilisation platform technology behind the EU-funded Carbon4PUR project (Turning industrial waste gases (mixed CO/CO₂ streams) into intermediates for polyurethane plastics for rigid foams/building insulation and coatings) was recently nominated as a finalist for the very prestigious German President’s Award (Deutscher Zukunftspreis).

© DECHEMA-COVESTRO

This award celebrates outstanding ideas and innovations in the science and technology industries. Whilst they remained one of the three nominees, we feel that the unprecedented idea of making polyurethane out of CO₂ definitely makes them a winner in our eyes as this month’s Project of the Month! Carbon4PUR is outstanding due to its innovative carbon capture and utilisation technology that partly replaces fossil-based raw material with CO₂ for use in the chemicals and plastics industries.

The novel process aims at using mixtures of CO₂ and carbon monoxide (CO) that are generated during steel production to produce polyols – key components of polyurethane-based insulating materials and coatings that are otherwise obtained from crude oil. The project’s industrial symbiosis makeup is a crucial part of CO₂ and CO utilisation and the project is also very much in step with the European Commission’s recently announced Green New Deal.

To find out more, we invite you to read our detailed CORDIS news article on Carbon4PUR and the award!

If you are interested in having your project featured in ‘Project of the Month’ in an upcoming issue, please send us an email to [email protected] and tell us why!

Source: CORDIS, press release, 2020-01-29.