EnCO2re moves to commercialise CO2 re-use for the plastics industry

• Breakthrough CO₂ re-use programme seeks new industrial partners to turn CO₂ emissions into a source of value for European industry.

Düsseldorf, 11.30am CET, 21^st October 2016: An open innovation programme to replace petroleum with CO₂ as a feedstock in the manufacture of plastics today formally launches at K-Fair in Düsseldorf.

Led by Climate-KIC and Covestro, the EnCO₂re programme has more than a dozen leading research partners in seven countries and is now ready to work with industrial partners to take CO₂ re-use out of the laboratory and deploy it at scale.

The first commercial-scale applications of CO₂ re-use could be polymers and chemical intermediates that are the basis of the plastics we use every day, including in our furniture, the panels that insulate our homes, and under the hood of our cars.

Greenhouse gas emissions are a major cause of man-made global warming. EnCO₂re’s partners demonstrate that the CO₂ re-use market has the potential to grow by more than 20 times its current size, reaching up to 3.7 billion tonnes per year – an amount equal to roughly 10% of global emissions. In this way it can complement efficiency and direct emissions reduction by helping us to:

• Shift away from fossil fuel feedstocks
• Manage the carbon footprints of large CO₂ emitters
• Make plastics more environmentally sustainable

However, CO₂ re-use technologies currently face technical, commercial and financial barriers to development and widespread deployment. EnCO₂re is an innovation hub, partner network and market development programme aimed at breaking down those barriers.

Sira Saccani, Director of Sustainable Production Systems at Climate-KIC: “Cooperation between research and industry is essential to commercialising breakthrough technologies, and CO₂ re-use is no exception. Through the EnCO₂re programme, Climate-KIC is bringing together top research institutes with industrial partners to turn CO₂ from an environmental threat to a valuable industrial feedstock.”

EnCO₂re’s aim is a balanced and prosperous large-scale market for re-used CO₂ through the establishment of a CO₂ value chain, beginning with a focus on polymers and chemical intermediates.

EnCO₂re already has active, world-class projects in two of the three main CO₂-to-chemical conversion routes: catalysis and electrochemistry. It will be adding projects covering the biological route in 2017.

Catalysis and electrochemistry technologies are at different levels of readiness across the programme portfolio. Some are currently proof-of-concept, while others, like CroCO₂PETs, are taking steps toward market readiness by working with producers to validate performance against the industry-standard properties of conventional materials.

Underpinning all projects is a rigorous, peer-reviewed examination of the life-cycle environmental impacts of CO₂ re-use.

Dr. Christoph Sievering, Head of Energy Strategy and Policy at Covestro, says: “Cooperation between industry and science, in addition to active dialogue with society and policymakers, is essential to commercializing breakthrough technologies. Through CO₂ re-use and other innovations, it’s clear that industry can and will be part of the solution to climate change.”

About EnCO₂re

EnCO₂re is an innovation and market development program for CO₂ re-use. Its vision is a balanced and prosperous market for re-used CO₂, beginning with a focus on polymers and chemical intermediates. EnCO₂re’s ambition is large-scale CO₂ re-use through the establishment of a CO₂ value chain.

EnCO₂re is a flagship programme from Climate-KIC, Europe’s largest public-private partnership addressing climate change. Climate-KIC is supported by the EIT, a body of the European Union.

Partners are: Covestro; Chalmers University of Technology; University of Copenhagen; University of Oxford; Imperial College London; Johanneberg Science Park; Engie Lab; MINES Paris Tech; TU Berlin, TU Delft; and Wuppertal Institut.

About Covestro

With 2015 sales of EUR 12.1 billion, Covestro is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and the sports and leisure industries. Covestro, formerly Bayer MaterialScience, has 30 production sites around the globe and as of the end of 2015 employed approximately 15,800 people (full-time equivalents).