Fortum produces biodegradable plastic from captured carbon in world first

Iranpolymer/Baspar Finland-based Fortum Recycling and Waste has successfully produced biodegradable plastic from carbon-captured feedstock in a world first.

The energy company started operating a pilot for CO2-based plastics in April 2022 at its Riihimäki waste-to-energy plant. The first stage of the pilot programme, called Carbon2x, involved capturing carbon from the flue gases of waste incineration and combined it with hydrogen to produce methane, an intermediary material for plastics production.

Since October last year, Fortum has been focusing on reusing that captured carbon and resulting intermediary materials to produce biodegradable plastic, which it has now successfully achieved. At the time of publication, Fortum did not disclose the type of biodegradable material its CO2-based plastic is made from.

“I am very proud that our team is the first in the world to successfully produce biodegradable plastic entirely from carbon dioxide emissions,” said Tony Rehn, head of the Carbon2x programme at Fortum. “This breakthrough is a significant step towards more sustainable plastic production. This kind of development work helps to reduce dependence on fossil-based raw materials and can create new circular economy-based business.”

Fortum says it captures 90% of carbon dioxide emissions from incineration of non-recyclable waste, therefore keeping carbon from materials that couldn’t have been mechanically recycled in the loop.

According to Rehn, Fortum’s CO2-based biodegradable plastic has the same properties as traditional, fossil-based virgin plastics.

“We want to promote the circulation of materials comprehensively. We believe that a whole new category of sustainable plastics is emerging from products such as ours, even though the mechanical recycling of plastics is still needed,” Rehn added.

Fortum said it plans to continue upscaling the Carbon2x project step by step towards industrial-level production capacity before the end of the decade. The next phase of the pilot will take around two years. The new ‘plastics born from CO2’ brand will be introduced to the European market in November 2024.

The company operates waste incineration plants in Denmark and Sweden in addition to Finland and has another under construction in the United Kingdom. It said its Carbon2x technology could be used at these sites in the future.

This August, a consortium between LUT University in Finland and companies including Fortum, Neste, and ABB started another pilot project to turn captured carbon into chemicals and plastics.

According to the Eurostat data, Finland incinerates most of its waste and has one of the lowest plastic packaging waste recycling rates in the European Union.

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