Plastics for manufacturing in space traditionally have been shipped from earth. Opus 12 is developing a breakthrough technology, which will enable the creation of plastics using only CO2, water, and electricity as feedstocks. Our technology can take water and CO2 from the Martian atmosphere, and transform these molecules into polyethylene plastic. This opens up a variety of space manufacturing applications, including 3d printing to make tools and building materials.
The electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide (ECO2R) is a platform for novel, renewable, zero land use chemicals and fuels. Across the U.S., 48 million tons of CO2 emissions from fermentation and biogas can be converted into 15 million tons of low-carbon ethylene. ECO2R will provide a new platform for manufacturing products from the most basic compounds: CO2, water, and electrical energy. ECO2R ethylene is just the beginning: our team has demonstrated ECO2R production of 16 different fuels and chemicals, including fuels such as ethanol and propanol.
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