17th International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization Hosted in Aachen

One of society's greatest challenges and a globally established goal is to reduce CO2 emissions. The 17th International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization – ICCDU for short – is currently taking place in Aachen until June 27. The event is being held under the motto From Science to Application and is now focusing on the use of carbon dioxide as an industrially usable raw material.

A total of 320 scientists from over 30 different countries will discuss the opportunities opened up by basic research and how these can be realized by industry at the world's most important conference on this topic. 

"Products such as fuels, polymers, or construction materials made of CO2 are no longer just a dream. The first applications using CO2 are either already on the market or about to enter it. A broad scientific foundation, trusting partnerships between academia and industry, and increasing demand for CO2-neutral products form the basis for this exciting development," explains the conference's chair, Professor Walter Leitner, Chair of Technical Chemistry and Petrochemistry at RWTH and director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr.

"Creative inventions for utilizing CO2 have turned into innovative processes and products that are now being commercialized by large industrial companies or agile start-ups," adds Dr. Christoph Gürtler, Covestro AG, Co-Chair of the conference.

Research at the CAT Catalytic Center – a joint facility funded by RWTH and Covestro – has contributed to the development of a process which means up to 5,000 metric tons of a building block for polyurethane foams can be produced in a plant in Dormagen, Germany every year.

Source: Press and Communications