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Abstract

The Sustainable Plastics Symposium was the great highlight of Carbon4PUR concluding the project and presenting the major outcomes to the public. We have organized the event together with our sister-project CO₂EXIDE, funded by the European Comission in the same call.

The Carbon4PUR highlights session has been introduced by an inspiring talk of Covestro's CEO Markus Steilemann, before we dived in to the project's main outcomes.

With 412 registrants from 46 countries and almost 250 active participants we had a tremendously positive engagement. The high interest proves that current efforts towards a circular economy and the investigation of novel pathways utilizing CO / CO₂ as a feedstock is bearing fruits.

Programme

Presentations

Carbon4PUR Highlight Session

Please note: The Carbon4PUR Presentations have been all compiled into a single slide set for your convenience. This slide set includes the following presentations:

Carbon4PUR – Industrial waste gases from steel industry for more sustainable polyurethane applications - Liv Adler (Covestro, coordinator)

Carbon4PUR – Building bridges along industries - Eric de Coninck (ArcelorMittal), Mark Saeys (Ghent University), Martin Machat (Covestro), Geert Snellings (Recticel), Poppy Krassa (Megara Resins)

Carbon4PUR - Assessment of environmental impact, economic aspects, acceptance and perception of CO₂/CO utilization and policies and regulations - Arturo Castillo (Imperial College London), Sylvain Pichon (Port of Marseille Fos), Jason Collis (TU Berlin), Jeroen Guinee (Leiden University), Lisanne Simons (RWTH Aachen University), Francisco Koch (Southpole)

Carbon4PUR further outcomes

During the Sustainable Plastics Symposium some important outcomes have only been touched upon. To give you the chanc e to have a deeper look, we will summarize some links here:

Carbon4PUR Mapping Tool can be found in our outcomes section - click here.

The video series related to public acceptance of CCU technologies can be found in our Videos section - click here.

CO₂Exide Highlight Session

CO₂EXIDE – Electrochemical CO₂ conversion to produce ethylene and ethyleneoxide derivates - Arne Roth (Fraunhofer IGB, coordinator)

CO₂EXIDE – The CO₂EXIDE electrochemical cell: Simultaneous ethylene and hydrogen peroxide production - Kerstin Wiesner-Fleischer (Siemens Energy)

CO₂EXIDE – Life cycle assessment and impact-related studies - Johannes Lindorfer (Energieinstitut at the Johannes Kepler University Linz)

Joint Session

Lessons learned during Carbon4PUR and CO₂EXIDE - Liv Adler and Arne Roth

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Initial invitation

The two projects Carbon4PUR and CO₂EXIDE invite you to their final joint presentation of R&D results on renewable production routes towards polyurethanes and ethylene oxide derivatives +++ Focusing on CO/CO₂ as raw materials for sustainable chemistry +++ A pan-European approach to a global challenge +++ Framed by contributions and statements of the European Commission, experts from science and industry, and board members of the industrial partners +++

State-of-the-art CCU technologies are paving the way to a future industry that is independent of fossil feedstock. New approaches are addressing the challenges and opportunities of turning our linear “throw-away” society into a Circular Economy, in which recycling processes form the basis of a sustainable production.

These are the core elements of the Horizon 2020 projects Carbon4PUR and CO₂EXIDE. Our aim is to reuse carbon from CO and CO₂ as a raw material for the synthesis of epoxides and polyurethanes. Utilising off-gas from a steel plant or a biogas plant as feedstock, we follow two different conversion paths and target complementary end products on the pathway to alternative plastics production based on carbon recycling.

In our joint symposium “Sustainable Plastics – Joining CCU, Circular Economy and Power-to-X for better Polymers” we will present the projects’ main results, thus showcasing the potential of a comprehensive linkage between EU-funded research.

After having been compelled to postpone the planned joint event in Aachen last year, we now gladly and warmly invite you to participate in our online symposium. Here is what you can expect.

The symposium will start with a keynote of Søren Bøwadt (European Commission) who will outline the current funding policy in the Green Deal and Horizon Europe programmes, thus relating the research topic of the two Horizon 2020 projects to the European future goals. Marta Domper (A.SPIRE) will continue and give a short overview of the Processes4Planet roadmap and Michael Carus (nova institute) will elucidate the Renewable Carbon Strategy that proposes the combined use of biomass, CO_2-utilisation and recycling for sustainable production chains. After lunch, Nieves Gonzalez Ramon (SusChem) will present the recently published Sustainable Plastics Strategy.

Framed by statements of their board members, the consortium partners of Carbon4PUR and CO₂EXIDE will then give a detailed overview on the central outcomes of their research efforts, also including regulative measures, social acceptance as well as sustainable electricity and feedstock supply as enablers for a future carbon-neutral process industry.

The symposium will end with a panel discussion with Walter Leitner (MPI-CEC / RWTH Aachen University), Maximilian Fleischer (Siemens Energy), Sophie Wilmet (CEFIC), Carmine Marzano (European Commission) and Florian Ausfelder (DECHEMA) about the demands and next steps towards a circular European industry.

presenting we will be there