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Home Ford to become first automaker to use CO2-based foam and plastic

Ford Motor Company (Dearborn, MI) is the first automaker to formulate and test new foam and plastic components using carbon dioxide as feedstock. Researchers expect to see the new biomaterials in Ford production vehicles within five years.

Ford has been developing and using biomaterials in its vehicles for almost two decades already. In North America, soy foam is in every Ford vehicle; coconut fiber backs trunk liners; recycled tires and soy are in mirror gaskets; recycled T-shirts and denim go into carpeting; and recycled plastic bottles become the REPREVE fabric first applied in the 2016 F-150. And since 2013, the automaker has been working with several companies, suppliers and universities to find applications for captured CO2.

The new foam is formulated by Novomer, a New York-based company that utilizes carbon dioxide captured from manufacturing plants to produce innovative materials. Through a system of conversions, Novomer produces a polymer than can be formulated into a variety of materials, including foam and plastic that are easily recyclable. 

Produced with up to 50 percent CO2-based polyols, the foam is showing promise as it meets rigorous automotive test standards.  Ford says that It could be employed in seating and underhood applications, potentially reducing petroleum use by more than 600 million pounds annually. The use of CO2-derived foam will further reduce the use of fossil fuels in Ford vehicles and increase the presence of sustainable foam in the automaker’s global lineup. 

“Ford is working aggressively to lower its environmental impact by reducing its use of petroleum-based plastic and foam,” said Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical leader of sustainability. “This technology is exciting because it is contributing to solving a seemingly insurmountable problem – climate change. We are thrilled to be leading the charge toward reducing carbon emissions and the effects of climate change.”

Carbon emissions and climate change are of growing concern to world leaders as a staggering 2.4 million pounds of CO2 are released into the atmosphere globally per second. Ford researchers are hopeful the company’s early steps to use captured carbon in innovative ways will help achieve the long-term goals to reduce global warming recently set in the UN Paris Agreement.

“Novomer is excited by the pioneering work Ford has completed with our Converge CO2-based polyols,” said Peter Shepard, Novomer chief business officer. “It takes bold, innovative companies such as Ford to enable new technologies to become mainstream products.”

For Ford, CO2 foam is the first product developed using this technology. Future goals include developing other plastic materials using captured carbon to help reduce further the need for fossil fuel-based plastics.

Source: www.plasticstoday.com

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