Chemists See Ways To Change Greenhouse Gas Into Plastic

April 10, 2008 12:59 a.m. EST

New Orleans, LA (AHN) - Two chemists are developing new ways to recycle carbon dioxide into a variety of plastic products while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

In papers presented separately at a symposium of the American Chemical Society here, Thomas E. Müller and Toshiyasu Sakakura presented papers about their technologies.

In his paper, Muller described CO2 fixation in polymers. In Sakakura's paper, the Japanese chemist and his team reported using CO2 as an alternative feedstock to synthesize carbonates and urethanes into plastics and battery components.

Both chemists agreed that their processes offer consumers the potential for less expensive, safer and greener products compared to current production methods.

Newswise quoted Muller as also saying, "Using CO2 to create polycarbonates might not solve the total carbon dioxide problem, but it could be a significant contribution."

Muller is a professor at the Institute for Technical Chemistry and Macromolecular Chemistry at RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany. Sakakura is a researcher with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan.