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Stress Relief: Diapers made from CO2 coming soon?

Chemists identified a cheaper and more sustainable method for producing acrylate, a chemical used to make materials from polyester fabrics to diapers. “What we’re interested in is enhancing both the economics and the sustainability of how acrylate is made,” says Wesley Bernskoetter, assistant professor of chemistry at Brown University, Providence, R.I., who led the research. “Right now, everything that goes into making it is from relatively expensive, nonrenewable carbon sources.”

(Distributed April 11, 2013)

A Use For Excess Carbon Emissions CO2 could produce valuable chemical cheaply

Researchers at Brown and Yale have demonstrated a new “enabling technology” that could use excess carbon dioxide to produce acrylate, a valuable commodity chemical involved in the manufacture of everything from polyester cloth to disposable diapers.

(Distributed March 21, 2013)

Rhode Island Public Radio Reports "Researching Ways to Make Goods with Less Oil"

PROVIDENCE, RI (RIPR) - Chemists at Brown University have received a $1.75-million grant to explore ways to make plastics without petroleum. The chemist's hope to create chemicals in more sustainable way.

(Distributed October 17, 2012)

Grant for Chemical Innovation Center

Researchers at Brown have been awarded $1.75 million to explore the potential of using carbon dioxide instead of fossil fuels in the production of common industrial chemicals. Advances could reduce the chemical industry’s carbon footprint and help stabilize production costs in the face of ever increasing fuel prices.

(Distributed October 11, 2012)

Andrew Peterson to present at CECAM Workshop on Future Challenges in CO2 reduction, Bremen, Germany, October, 2012.

Andrew Peterson, a research investigator for the Center for Chemical Innovation at Brown University travels to the CECAM (Centre euro