LEVERKUSEN, Germany — A team from the materials manufacturer Covestro and RWTH Aachen University has reached the finals for the German Future Prize with a new process for using CO2 as a raw material. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will present the award on Nov. 27, 2019, in Berlin. Dr. Christoph Gürtler and Dr. Berit Stange from Covestro as well as Professor Walter Leitner, teacher and researcher at RWTH Aachen University and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, are hoping for a victory. They have become instrumental in the development and market launch of a technology for using the CO2 exhaust gas in plastics production.
The team has presented the innovation to the public in Munich. Covestro researcher Gürtler emphasized that the process makes a contribution to sustainability and resource conservation by partially replacing crude oil with CO2 as a carbon supplier. In addition, the reuse of CO2 contributes to the recycling economy. “We see considerable value creation potential for industry in the use of CO2,” added Gürtler, who is responsible for the development of new processes and products at Covestro.