Dream Resource Conti

 

Background

Today, a world without surface-active materials is hard to imagine. The application areas are diverse and range from detergents at home to emulsifiers in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. A large number of possible applications leads to an annual production volume of over 10 million tons. For the production of surface-active materials, oil derivatives such as ethylene oxide are mostly used. These conventional routes are characterized by significant CO₂ emissions and unsustainable use of fossil resources. In "DreamResourceConti", a continuous process is developed, which uses carbon dioxide as an alternative carbon source to partially substitute fossil resources such as ethylene oxide.

 

Goal

Copyright: © LTT

The Institute of Technical Thermodynamics analyzes the environmental impacts in "DreamResourceConti" using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is a holistic methodology that determines the environmental impacts of products along the entire life cycle: from raw material extraction to disposal. By integrating LCA in an early development stage in "DreamResourceConti", the decision-making process can be guided by environmental criteria. Thus, the development of processes can already be designed so that environmental impacts are minimal. Funding number: 033R222B

  Copyright: © BMBF