Carbon 2 Coatings

Carbon chemistry made from CO2 out of the atmosphere. That is the goal of a long-term project with several scientific partners.

We are initiator and part of one of the most ambitious projects in our industry.

The CO2 in the earth's atmosphere, which plays such a major role in global warming, is based on the chemical carbon (short name: C). Alkyd resins, solvents and many other chemical-technical products used in organic chemistry are also based on C.

What would happen if it were possible to extract CO2 from the earth's atmosphere and then turn it into coatings, "carbon to coatings" so to speak?

The project

Together with partners from academia and industry, we have set out on our journey. Together, supported by the state and private foundations, we will capture atmospheric CO2 and gradually convert it into colors and coatings for wood.

This is not easy, but the individual chemical process steps already exist, at least in theory. What is needed now is practical implementation. Also to learn how to produce these individual steps in larger quantities in a scalable way, what problems occur and then to measure what net CO2 savings can be achieved. Our goal is to produce the first basic materials from atmospheric CO2 within 2 years.

The big goal: CO2-negative!

If it succeeds on a large scale, then a wood coating obtained from atmospheric CO2 would not only be CO2-neutral, it would be CO2-negative. This means that the CO2 content of the earth's atmosphere is reduced by using wood paints.

If it really works, then wood colors are only the beginning. The entire organic chemistry could possibly profit from it and reposition itself. And since the chemical industry as a whole is one of the largest CO2 emitters, a significant further contribution to progressive climate protection by an industry that is often scolded but chronically underestimated in its sustainability efforts would be possible.

The project partners

Even in the first basic developments, no one can handle a project like this alone. We are a group of specialists who work together on the big goal: CO2-negative by 2030.

Open source

All project partners agree that climate protection is a task for society as a whole, which can only achieve maximum effectiveness at international level. Therefore Carbon2Coatings is set up and licensed as an open source project. All companies worldwide can benefit from the know-how built up if they in turn make the results of their research available to the general public. We consider this to be the only sensible approach to achieve possible progress quickly and comprehensively.