Large amounts of carbon dioxide are produced in industrial production, in the movement of cars and even in everyday life. According to incomplete statistics, billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide gas are emitted into the atmosphere every year. There is no doubt that this carbon dioxide has a negative impact on the Earth's environment. As the "main culprit" of the planet's greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide has not had a pleasant image in recent years.
But is carbon dioxide really only a problem? Let's not forget carbonated drinks, foam fire extinguishers and dry ice, the "cooler", or photosynthesis, which is essential for plant growth. In the presence of sunlight, plants use photosynthetic pigments to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and carbohydrates - the former providing the basis for the survival of the living world, the latter providing a direct source of energy and 'building material' for plant growth.
Carbon is an important element in the chemical industry and is a major component of a large number of chemical products. Could carbon dioxide be used as a "carbon source" to produce plasticised "building materials", just like plants? "The idea of converting carbon dioxide into carbon dioxide based polymers for the production of plastics was first proposed by a Japanese scientist in 1969. This was called the 'dream material' not only because of the low cost of carbon dioxide and its abundant reserves, but also because it could significantly reduce the plastics industry's dependence on fossil raw materials such as oil, thus expanding the range of raw materials available to the basic chemical industry and opening up new avenues of sustainable development.
However, carbon dioxide, which is at the end of the combustion chain, is chemically very stable and difficult to decompose under normal conditions. For more than 40 years, finding the right catalyst has been a challenge.
Not long ago, the German manufacturer of advanced polymers and high-performance plastics, Costron, announced that it had succeeded in identifying a "super catalyst" for converting carbon dioxide into a source of carbon for industrial production, and that the world's first plant for producing foam from carbon dioxide had been put into operation in Dormagen, Germany. Crestron CEO Patrick Thomas said that carbon dioxide accounts for up to 20% of the raw material used in the production process. The new technology allows CO2 to be polymerised with the raw materials used in the production of conventional foams, bringing CO2 into the "industrial raw material loop" while improving the performance of the product.
In the plastics industry, polyurethane foam is widely used as a shock-absorbing packaging material, sound-absorbing material and water-absorbing material due to its elasticity. The main components of polyurethane are polyols and isocyanates. Under the action of a "super catalyst", carbon dioxide can open chemical bonds to become carbon dioxide groups, which are "embedded" in polyols and polymerised into polycarbonate polyols, which eventually form polyether carbonate polyurethanes with isocyanates. The polyether carbonate polyurethane foam is superior to traditional polyurethane materials in terms of mechanical properties, hydrolysis resistance, heat resistance, oxidation resistance and abrasion resistance.
Previously, the foam was produced entirely from petroleum; with this new technology, carbon dioxide can replace 1/4 of the petroleum used. In addition to the fact that the catalyst is not depleted during the production process and the production equipment is a one-time investment for long-term use, carbon dioxide can be obtained cheaply from upstream enterprises such as thermal power plants. In the long run, the use of CO2 as an industrial feedstock is not only more environmentally friendly than conventional technologies, but also commercially competitive. Costron plans to produce 5,000 tonnes of polyether carbonate based polyurethane foam per year. As a next step, they are trying to expand the technology to the entire plastics industry, which, following this development, can hopefully be completely freed from dependence on oil in the future.
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