Covestro has worked with Shandong INOV New Materials Co., Ltd., a materials manufacturer and engineering contractor of plastics sport floorings, to complete the laying of a walkway using CO2-based material cardyon at Covestro's Asia-Pacific Innovation Center in Shanghai.
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The company says it marks a new breakthrough in the use of Covestro's cardyon polyols in the field of plastic runways.
It's the first case in China where the innovative CO2-based material has been used to produce sports floorings.
The carbon dioxide for the walkway is contained in a binder, or more precisely, in one of its components, a so-called polyol named cardyon which was developed by Covestro to synthesize plastics. This sustainable material can save up to one-fifth of crude oil in production – an innovative contribution to resource preservation and circular economy.
The 66-meter-long and 1.2-meter-wide walkway uses polyurethane adhesive based on cardyon, as well as the molecular structure design by INOV.
The material cardyon is Covestro's breakthrough product that turns CO₂ into a valuable raw material. Through close cooperation with RWTH Aachen University in Germany, inert CO₂ molecules are activated and used to partly replace crude oil to produce polyethercarbonate polyols.
So far, cardyon has been used to produce soft polyurethane foam for mattresses and upholstered furniture, as well as sports floorings in the hockey facility of a renowned sports club in Germany.
It is also used for the production of innovative elastic textile fibres. Latest development is an application of soft foams produced with cardyon for automotive interior.
“The efforts of our Chinese colleagues together with INOV are an important step towards increasing awareness of the application possibilities of our innovative materials," said Daniel Meyer, Head of Business Unit Polyurethanes at Covestro.
"The cooperation with our industrial partners will continue to be a focus in the future to further research and promote the use of our sustainable products. Our goal is to continuously reduce our CO₂ footprint and to align our business sustainably to the circular economy."