How greenhouse gas becomes plastic

CO2 as a resource?

Mother Nature has shown us how it works: In the same way plants take CO2 from the atmosphere and use it for growth, people can also draw on CO2 as a resource. The process known as Carbon Capture Utilization (CCU) takes CO2 to produce long-life, high-value plastics.

The journey from CO2 to plastic

Instead of releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, we capture it right where it's produced. We combine it with green H2 and channel both into a synthesis unit, where the molecules are split and then reassembled. This is how we gain hydrocarbon compounds, very similar to those in crude oil, that are processed into raw material for plastics.

Closing the loop

We use CO2 as a resource by bringing it into a loop using Carbon Capture Utilization in order to then make renewable plastic.

Sorin Ivanovici, OMV Project Lead

If a plastic has reached the end of its usability, it can still be incinerated. For example as energy for cement production. The CO2 released during the incineration does not then enter the atmosphere but is captured and starts its journey anew as a resource and closes the loop

Everything makes even more sense when we think in circles! The key is to keep the plastics in a cycle, to recycle them and to process them into new products. This is done in our plastics recycling facilities. Some plastics can be recycled mechanically, others undergo chemical recycling, for example in our recycling unit in the OMV Schwechat Refinery. 

Further links:

Blog article: CO2 as resource: How greenhouse gas becomes plastic

Blog article: Rethinking plastics recycling: towards a circular economy