The Rise of CO2 Based Polymers

According to the Nova Technology’s & Trends report, the production of carbon dioxide-based polymers is on the rise as the world tries to balance industrial need and sustainability. An in-depth look at what the report says, below.

- Kruti Bharadva

Around 400 million tons of polymers are produced globally each year. The amount has been growing by 3–4 per cent per year for decades and they have become an integral and important part of the modern world. Despite all their useful and versatile material properties, polymers face a major problem: 90 per cent of them are produced from fossil carbon and finally end up as CO2 emission. This has no future!

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 renewablecarbon, which is carbon from biomass and recycling – and CO2. However, as the use of biomass and the recycling of plastics alone will not suffice, CO2 utilisation could be the solution to meet the demand for virgin polymers in the future.

CO2-BASED POLYCARBONATES ARE ALREADY COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE FROM VARIOUS SUPPLIERS. ONE OF THE LARGEST VOLUMES AVAILABLE ARE AROMATIC POLYCARBONATES, BUT SEVERAL PLAYERS WORLDWIDE ARE ALSO OFFERING ALIPHATIC POLYCARBONATES

Production Capacities for CO2-Based Polymers

As per the Nova report, the potential and the actual production capacity for CO2-based polymers is much larger than commonly assumed anddiscussed. The production capacity, mainly for polycarbonates and polyols for polyurethanes production, already amounts to more than 850 kt/a today, with an average weighted CO2-based carbon content of currently only 5.4 per cent. Nine companies were considered, mainly located in Asia, Europe and North America and are shown in table 1.