Carbon Dioxide Removed From Smockstacks Could Be Useful In DVD And CD-ROM Manufacture - ScienceDaily

Summary:
Carbon dioxide removed from smokestack emissions in order to slow global warming in the future could become a valuable raw material for the production of DVDs, beverage bottles and other products made from polycarbonate plastics. Two presentations at the ACS 2008 meeting were dedicated to the topic. Polycarbonates have great potential for use in removing carbon dioxide from the environment. Estimates are that it's a matter of a few years before CO₂-derived polymers are available to the public. (Published: 09/04/08)

Notes:

• ACS meeting, April 8, 2008
• two presentations on trapping CO₂ into carbonates and urethanes to avoid release of many million tons into the environment
  
• Thomas Mueller, RWTH Aachen:
  
• "Carbon dioxide is so readily available, especially from the smokestack of industries that burn coal and other fossil fuels. And it's a very cheap starting material. If we can replace more expensive starting materials with CO₂, then you'll have an economic driving force."
• "Millions of tons of polycarbonates already are sold each year with the volume rising. Perhaps no other consumer product has such a great potential for use in removing carbon dioxide from the environment."
• are the mainstay for producing eyeglass lenses, automotive headlamp lenses, DVDs and CDs, beverage bottles, and a spectrum of other consumer products
• "Using CO₂ to create polycarbonates might not solve the total carbon dioxide problem, but it could be a significant contribution."
• "I would say it's a matter of a few years before CO₂-derived polymers are available to the public."
• Toshiyasu Sakakura, Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan