Bayer To Turn CO₂ Into Polyurethanes

Bayer has teamed up with German electricity firm RWE Power and RWTH Aachen University to make polyether polycarbonate polyols from carbon dioxide. So far, Bayer says it has developed new catalysts that can overcome the difficulty of using CO₂ as a raw material. Next, Bayer and partners plan to build a pilot plant in Leverkusen, Germany, to make kilogram-scale quantities of the polyols for polyurethane production with $5.4 million in funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education & Research. RWE’s coal-fired power plant in Niederaussem will supply the CO₂ feedstock.