Reusing greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from industrial plants to create new products is on the verge of becoming a commercial reality, a U.S. journal reports.
Several large chemical companies in Germany and small start-ups in the United States are leading the way in finding new uses for CO2 created by manufacturing, rather than emitting it into the atmosphere where it increases global warming, an article in Chemical & Engineering News said.
Working with an infusion of cash from the German government encouraging academic-industrial collaborations, chemical giants including BASF and Bayer are expected to roll out new processes to use waste CO2 to make plastics, additives, fuels and other materials in an energy-efficient and cost-effective way, the article reported.
Several U.S. start-up companies are following the same path, including LanzaTech in Illinois, which is developing a process to convert CO2 back into useful chemicals such as acetic acid, an important substance used in industrial processes.
A Massachusetts company, Novomer, is reported planning to offer a CO2-based raw material for plastics as early as next year.
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