New Application with CO₂-Based Material CARDYON®

Covestro has partnered with Shandong INOV New Materials Co., Ltd., a plastic sports flooring material manufacturer and engineering contractor, to complete the installation of a walking path using cardyon®, a CO2-based material, at Covestro's Asia-Pacific Innovation Center in Shanghai. The use of Covestro's cardyon® polyols in plastic running tracks represents a new milestone in this field. This is the first application in China where the innovative CO2-based material has been used to produce sports flooring. Daniel Meyer, Head of the Polyurethane Business Unit at Covestro, said, "The efforts of our Chinese colleagues together with INOV represent an important step in raising awareness about the application possibilities of our innovative materials. Our collaboration with industrial partners will continue to be a focal point for conducting further research in the future and promoting the use of our sustainable products. Our goal is to continuously reduce our CO2 footprint and align our business with the circular economy in a sustainable way." Carbon dioxide is present in the walking path as part of a binder, or more precisely in one of its components—a polyol called cardyon®, developed by Covestro for plastic synthesis. This sustainable material can save up to one-fifth of crude oil in production—meaning an innovative contribution to resource conservation and the circular economy. [caption id="attachment_104911" align="aligncenter"] New polyurethane walking path with CO2 technology at Covestro's regional innovation center in Shanghai.[/caption]

Breakthrough in the use of innovative materials in sports

The 66-meter-long and 1.2-meter-wide walking path uses cardyon®-based polyurethane adhesive and INOV's molecular structure design. It features exceptional flexibility and flatness properties that provide increased comfort. The walking path material has an outstanding and durable color with high resistance to yellowing. Xu Jun, President of INOV, said, "We are greatly honored to participate in the installation of this cardyon®-based walking path at Covestro's Asia-Pacific Innovation Center. We hope to use this opportunity to continue collaboration with Covestro in further areas and to explore sustainable and innovative applications of polyurethanes."

Using CO₂ to save petroleum resources

Cardyon® material is Covestro's groundbreaking product that converts CO₂ into a valuable raw material. Through close collaboration with RWTH Aachen University in Germany, inert CO₂ molecules are activated and used to partially replace crude oil in the production of polyether carbonate polyols. Covestro has been producing new CO₂-based polyols since 2016 at its Dormagen facility near Cologne, using carbon dioxide generated as a by-product from a neighboring chemical company. Dr. Michael Schmidt, Head of Innovation for Covestro Asia-Pacific, said, "It is great to see the CO₂ walking path being built at our Asia-Pacific Innovation Center, which is another example of our commitment to promote sustainability-driven innovation. We are looking forward to using CO₂ as a new raw material in various applications. We hope to create a closed loop in CO₂ usage, thereby saving petroleum resources and promoting a circular economy." Cardyon® has so far been used for soft polyurethane foam for mattresses and upholstered furniture, and to produce sports flooring at a renowned sports club's hockey facility in Germany. The product is also used in the production of innovative elastic textile fibers. The latest development is an application of soft foams produced with cardyon® for automotive interiors. By jointly constructing the polyurethane walking path, Covestro and INOV are now marking a breakthrough use of cardyon® in China and further strengthening their collaboration in the plastic running tracks sector.