Solidified Carbon Dioxide Makes New Materials      

Jiangsu Jinlong-CAS Chemical Co., Ltd. uses advanced technologies to recover carbon dioxide emitted by industries like power, fertilizer, cement and smelting, and then solidify the CO2 to produce non-polluting and biodegradable plastic foam and other low-carbon chemical new materials.
   The company now has a 20 000 t/a capacity for poly (propylene carbonate) diol, and plans to expand it to 50 000 t/a this year. By 2015, it intends to expand the capacity for carbon dioxide based plastics to 100 000 t/a.
   "The current situation that China has to rely on fossil fuels would not change in near future and it is also very difficult to largely reduce CO2 emissions in a short period of time," an industry expert said. "Therefore, it's urgent for China to develop the low-carbon economy via advanced technology and new materials."
   The expert suggests the government to pick the solidified carbon dioxide based new material industry as a pilot industry for the low-carbon economy. The government should encourage the sector to develop fast, aiming at reducing uses of crude oil and greenhouse gases emissions. Carbon dioxide collected at coal-fired power plants, cement plants and fertilizer plants could be transformed into industrial products, as turning waste into treasure is realized.