LOOP CO2, INC. — Department of Energy STTR Phase I: C54-23b

Description

Statement of Problem The global scale of plastics production (reaching 367 million metric tons in 2020) has led to enormous negative impacts on our environment through carbon emissions and environmental pollution. For example, 75% of the disposed plastic ends up being landfilled while only 9% is recycled, leading to a significant amount that ends up in our environment. Thus, there is a pressing need to develop inexpensive biodegradable plastics that do not have long-term environmental impact and reduce carbon emissions through carbon capture technology. General statement of how this problem is being addressed We will be harvesting CO2 as a chemical resource to make commodity polyester materials in order to reduce carbon emission during production while simultaneously achieving great biodegradability and recyclability of the materials. What is to be done in Phase I? We plan to use a high CO2 weight content monomer to make plastics that can replace petroleum-based materials. Our monomer, EtVP, is made of CO2 and butadiene, which can be bioderived. We will be focusing on formulations of copolymer thermoplastic elastomers primarily around thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) and copolyester thermoplastic elastomers (COPEs) and develop the property database and complete sample materials for initial customer engagement. The synthesis process will be optimized to improve the techno-economic analysis and life cycle analysis results of making newly developed CO2 based polymers (PolyEtVP). Commercial Applications and Other Benefits We plan to focus on elastomers markets in thermoplastic polyester elastomers (COPEs) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). The market size for these two sectors will reach $5.3 Bn in 2026. A CO2-based chemical recyclable and biodegradable thermoplastic elastomer will reduce the needs of fossil-based thermoplastic elastomers. It will significantly reduce the CO2 footprints in medical, automotive and footwear industries.