Liquid Light has signed a new agreement with Coca-Cola Co. to further advance its technology for making mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) from carbon dioxide (CO2).
The beverage company wants to accelerate its PlantBottle packaging program, which uses renewable plant materials to make a fully recyclable plastic bottle. The current version of the PlantBottle is made from up to 30 percent plant-based materials, but the company is continuing to invest in the packaging and last month unveiled the world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant materials at the World Expo in Milan.
Liquid Light develops and licenses process technology to make major chemicals from CO2. Announcing the technology development agreement with Coca-Cola Co. on Monday, it said that its approach enables more efficient use of plant materials to produce MEG, one of the components used to make Coca-Cola Co.’s plant-based PET bottle.
The technology has the potential to reduce both the environmental footprint and the cost of producing MEG, the company said.
For example, a bio-ethanol production facility could make bio-MEG from the CO2 byproduct that results from converting plant material into ethanol. Facilities that deploy the technology could profit by producing high-value chemicals from CO2 “waste”; reduce their dependence on oil; and potentially reduce their carbon footprint.
Coca-Cola Co. has distributed more than 35 billion PlantBottles in nearly 40 countries since introducing the packaging in 2009.
Details of the agreement with Liquid Light were not disclosed.
