Turning waste into treasure, Covestro's innovative CO2 technology brings greenhouse gases back into the value chain

In recent years, with the country's increasing requirements for carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, the chemical industry has been making continuous efforts to upgrade to green
.
Production, consumption, disposal and single-use models are no longer the way to go.
Only through sustainable approaches, such as the use of alternative raw materials, and a closed carbon loop, can we stop environmental pollution and over-exploitation of the world's increasingly scarce resources
.

As the world's leading supplier of raw materials, Covestro has also fully implemented the circular economy as a new vision of the company (Covestro, creating for endless cycles), hoping to make production, products and other fields fully comply with the long-term The concept of circular economy accelerates the transformation to circular economy
.

Drive innovation inspired by sustainability

Inspired by nature, Covestro's innovative CO2 technology can reuse CO2 as a valuable raw material in polyol production
.
Our process can replace up to 20% of the fossil feedstock with carbon dioxide, producing a carbon dioxide-based polyol called cardyon®
.
This not only reduces our reliance on fossil resources and enables more sustainable innovation, but also promotes the development of a circular economy
.

This innovation can be called a scientific breakthrough
.
With the help of catalysts, carbon dioxide can finally be used effectively in the production of plastics and polymers
.
Using its own patented CO2 process, Covestro uses CO2 as a feedstock to produce polyols, key semi-finished products for polyurethane plastics such as foams or adhesives, using special production facilities at its Dormagen plant in Germany
.
The carbon dioxide used in it comes from exhaust emissions from an adjacent chemical plant
.
With an annual output of 5,000 tons, the plant, although small, offers significant opportunities for market expansion and further process development
.

Today, cardyon® has been successfully used in mattress soft foams, automotive interiors, adhesives for sports floors, and thermoplastic polyurethane insoles
.
Covestro has also successfully trial-produced rigid foam-based thermal insulation materials and surfactants for detergents using this CO2 technology
.
More application areas are yet to be developed jointly with customers
.

For example, Covestro has teamed up with Australia-based Advanced Polymer Technology (APT), the world's leading manufacturer of polyurethane-based materials, acrylic coatings and artificial turf, and Polytan to create a dedicated hockey floor called Poligras Tokyo GT
.
The Poligras Tokyo GT was created for the 2021 sports event in Tokyo, and the adhesive under the floor was made using Covestro CO2 technology
.

In 2020, Covestro joined hands with Shandong Yinuowei Polyurethane Co.
, Ltd.
to lay a healthy trail using cardyon® polyether polyol material in the Covestro Asia Pacific Innovation Center in Shanghai.
This is the first time for this innovative carbon dioxide material.
Applied to plastic runway in the Asia-Pacific region
.

In the future, Covestro hopes to be able to produce CO2-based polyols on a large scale
.
Not only do companies want to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, they also want to use as much carbon dioxide as possible to make plastics, thereby contributing to the recycling of carbon dioxide
.
Covestro also hopes to join hands with stakeholders in the industry chain to contribute to sustainable development and the realization of a circular economy through this innovative CO2 technology
.