Green Industrial Process & Products: CO2-Enhanced Engineering Thermoplastics

CO2 is an abundantly available, non-toxic, non-flammable gas, and its use as feedstock for chemical industry is gaining increased attention. Moreover, CO2 in its supercritical stage is an environmentally benign medium that can be used as a strategic organ ic solvent replacement. Aromatic polycarbonates constitute one of the largest groups of engineering plastics. Aliphatic polycarbonates, a novel class of polycarbonates, may be produced from CO2 and epoxides in a catalytic copolymerization process. Th is is in stark contrast to the production technology for today's polycarbonates that are produced from aromatic feedstock and e. g. phosgene, in non-catalytic processes requiring either the use of chlorinated organic solvents or high temperature/vacuum. This project addresses the needs for innovative solutions to develop a sustainable polymer process for the production of aliphatic polycarbonates, employing CO2 as feedstock and scCO2 as organic solvent replacement. Further, it addresses the need for inn ovative solutions with respect to polymer properties development for aliphatic polycarbonates, e. g. as biocompatible and biodegradable plastics. Such a catalytic conversion of CO2 to value enhanced products will contribute to increasing the value from t he natural gas chain in Norway. A prerequisite for project success is core competencies in catalysis and polymerization processes. Project partners are national and international corporations, universities and research institutes that operate in differen t research fields and markets. The scientific focus will be on developing new knowledge and technology to allow a sustainable production of novel aliphatic polycarbonates, together with a fundamental understanding of their structure-properties-relationshi ps. Application potentials will be identified. A value chain-understanding is integrated in the R&D work, to secure that technology development and long term competitiveness will advance from the project.