Ford to Produce Foam and Plastic Components Made of Captured CO2

Ford Motor Company has become the first car maker to formulate and test new foam and plastic components that have been developed using carbon dioxide (CO2).

By Sameer Contractor

1 mins read

Published on May 28, 2016

Highlights

Ford is the first car maker to produce captured CO2 based components
2.4 million pounds of CO2 are released in the atmosphere every second
Using captured CO2 to make components will help reduce use of petroleum

Ford Motor Company has become the first car maker to formulate and test new foam and plastic components that have been developed using carbon dioxide (CO2). The automaker stated that the new biomaterials can be expected to be used in Ford's production vehicles in the next five years. The foam in question is formulated with up to 50 per cent CO2-based polyols and Ford says that the same material has been subjected to rigorous automotive test standards. When ready, the foam will find several applications like in the seat as well as under-bonnet. Moreover, the CO2 foam will also help reduce dependency on petroleum by more than 600 million pounds annually. To give you perspective, this is enough to fill nearly 35,000 American homes. Ford managed to develop the technology with the help New York based firm - Novomer The process to get the CO2 based foam working including several companies, suppliers and universities working in collaboration with Ford since 2013, in order to find different applications for captured CO2. A New York based company Novomer, which already uses CO2 captured from manufacturing plants was able to workout the applications with the car maker. Ford is working on the early adoption of captured CO2 application and see's it as a contribution towards reducing global warming. Interestingly, this isn't the first major sustainable material that Ford has worked upon for its cars. Previously, the car maker has produced seat foams from soybeans and kenaf in door bolsters. Ford has also sure T-shirts and denims recycled for carpeting, while plastic bottles have been recycled to turn into seat fabric. The captured CO2 based components will help reduce dependency on petroleum At present, a staggering 2.4 million pounds of CO2 are released in the atmosphere every second. While car manufacturers have been proactive in creating alternative fuels and power propelling technologies on vehicles including hybrids, electric vehicles and much more. Initiatives also need to be taken in the manufacturing process of building eco-friendly cars, even if they run on conventional fuels. It will be interesting to see other OEMs as well as component manufacturers develop similar environment friendly technologies that will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. You might also be interested to see the price of the best cars in India: Renault Kwid, Honda City, Maruti Swift, Hyundai Elite i20, Maruti Baleno, Alto 800, Renault Duster, Maruti Wagon R, Maruti Swift Dzire, Mahindra Scorpio, Mahindra XUV500