The Future of Plastics - Carbon Dioxide's Potential as a Raw Material | Tomorrow Today

What will happen to the plastics industry when the world's supply of petroleum grows scarce? Bernhard Rieger is professor of chemistry at Munich's Technical University. He believes carbon dioxide is the raw material of the future. Carbon dioxide is plentiful in the earth's atmosphere and is created when oil, coal, gas, and wood are burned. Bernhard Rieger wants to use carbon dioxide to produce plastics. The key to the technology will be using the proper catalyst. Catalysts are substances that help facilitate chemical reactions. Bernhard Rieger believes that the chemicals industry is at the threshold of a profound revolution - the switch from petroleum chemistry to carbon dioxide chemistry.