USA - AirCarbon, environmentally friendly bioplastic
The American company Newlight Technologies has developed a technology to capture CO2 and methane from air for the production of AirCarbon bioplastic. The new plastic, which consists of 40% oxygen from the air and 60% from coal and hydrogen, can replace in industry traditional plastic made from oil and other fossil fuels.
The process of bioplastic formation begins by capturing from the air greenhouse gases based on methane or CO2 and introducing them into the Newlight polymerization system for the synthesis of materials. “Inside, greenhouse gas combines with a naturally occurring micro-organism biocatalyst, which is the basis of the entire AirCarbon production process. The biocatalyst extracts coal from methane or carbon dioxide and combines this carbon with hydrogen and oxygen to synthesize a biopolymer, called AirCarbon. After production, AirCarbon is removed from the reactor, purified and processed into a pellet, which can then be melted and formed into any shape.
Researchers, inspired by processes occurring in nature, worked on bioplastics for 10 years. AirCarbon is currently used, among others, for packaging for The Body Shop and Dell, as well as electronic accessories for Sprint and Virgin.