{"id":66787,"date":"2019-09-24T07:29:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T05:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=66787"},"modified":"2021-09-09T21:27:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T19:27:00","slug":"in-the-finals-for-the-german-presidents-award-new-process-for-co2-use-among-the-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/in-the-finals-for-the-german-presidents-award-new-process-for-co2-use-among-the-best\/","title":{"rendered":"In the finals for the German President\u2019s Award – New process for CO2<\/sub> use among the best"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A successful team: Professor Walter Leitner (RWTH Aachen University), Christoph G\u00fcrtler und Berit Stange (both from Covestro) are in the finals for the German President\u2019s Award (from left).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A team from the materials manufacturer Covestro and RWTH Aachen University has reached the finals for the German Future Prize with a new process for using CO2<\/sub> as a raw material. The prestigious award will be presented by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on 27 November in Berlin. Dr. Christoph G\u00fcrtler and Dr. Berit Stange from Covestro as well as Professor Walter Leitner, teacher and researcher at RWTH Aachen University and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, are hoping for a victory. They have become instrumental in the development and market launch of a technology for using the CO2<\/sub> exhaust gas in plastics production.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The team has now presented the innovation to the public in Munich. Covestro researcher G\u00fcrtler emphasized that the process makes a contribution to sustainability and resource conservation by partially replacing the conventional raw material crude oil with CO2<\/sub> as a carbon supplier. In addition, the reuse of CO2<\/sub> contributes to the recycling economy. \u201cWe see considerable value creation potential for industry in the use of CO2<\/sub>,\u201d added G\u00fcrtler, who is responsible at Covestro for the development of new processes and products.<\/p>\n

Sustainable platform technology<\/h3>\n

His colleague, Ms. Stange, emphasized that this is a platform technology that allows the CO2<\/sub> to be used for a wide range of high-quality plastics (polyurethanes). \u201cChemical preproducts with CO2<\/sub> to produce soft foam for mattresses and upholstered furniture are already available on the market,\u201d says Stange. At Covestro, she is responsible for recycling management in a managerial function and has played a decisive role in the marketing of the new technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs alternative carbon sources, carbon dioxide as well as plants and plastic waste have the potential to revolutionize production in the plastics industry,\u201d stressed Covestro CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann. \u201cCovestro is a pioneer in this field. Fossil raw materials such as oil can no longer be the main resource of our industry if the world embarks on a more sustainable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breakthrough in catalysis research<\/h3>\n

The use of CO2<\/sub> took off with a breakthrough in catalysis research, as Professor Leitner explained: \u201cIt takes a lot of effort for CO2<\/sub> to form chemical compounds. The major challenge was to develop a tailor-made catalyst in order to control the reaction so that it is both economical and efficient\u201d.<\/p>\n

Experts from Covestro and the CAT Catalytic Center, a research facility jointly operated by the company and RWTH Aachen University, have succeeded in this \u2013 for Leitner an \u201cexemplary cooperation between application-oriented science and research-based industry\u201d. Experts had been searching for such a catalyst for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cProfessor Leitner’s research activities on the catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide are like a condensate of the excellence strategy of RWTH Aachen with the motto ‘Knowledge. Impact. Networks’, making them a prime example of our university, non-university and industrial research,\u201d said Professor Ulrich R\u00fcdiger, Rector of RWTH Aachen University. \u201cJust as the university strategy describes the knowledge creation process and its transfer into integrated and interdisciplinary networks, Professor Leitner’s innovations create substantial knowledge that has an enormous impact on science, society and the climate.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About Covestro<\/h3>\n

With 2018 sales of EUR 14.6 billion, Covestro is among the world\u2019s 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, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,800 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A team from the materials manufacturer Covestro and RWTH Aachen University has reached the finals for the German Future Prize with a new process for using CO2 as a raw material. The prestigious award will be presented by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on 27 November in Berlin. Dr. Christoph G\u00fcrtler and Dr. Berit Stange from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572,5571],"tags":[10744,12656,10743],"supplier":[10858,5225,98],"class_list":["post-66787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-polyols","tag-useco2","supplier-covestro-group","supplier-max-planck-institut-fuer-chemische-energiekonversion","supplier-rheinisch-westfaelische-technische-hochschule-aachen-rwth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66787"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=66787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}