Imagine a chair built out of pollution
Now, see it materialize. Ki claims to have the world's first carbon-negative chair made with AirCarbon --a thermoplastic developed by California-based Newlight Technologies that captures carbon from the air.
"By using carbon that would otherwise be in the air we are breathing right now, AirCarbon turns everyday goods into products that actually improve the environment," said Mark Herrema, CEO, Newlight. "Combined with a cost profile that is more favorable than oil-based plastics, AirCarbon has the potential to change the world."
Inspired by carbon-capturing processes found in nature, and as a result of Newlight's breakthroughs in gas conversion yield and polymer performance, AirCarbon-based materials can replicate the performance of oil-based plastics while out-competing on price, representing a solution to displace oil, reducing material cost and stabilizing climate change.
"AirCarbon represents the future of sustainability and is on the cutting-edge of sustainable manufacturing practices," said Dick Resch, CEO, KI.
Inspired by carbon-capturing processes found in nature, Newlight has developed, patented, and commercialized a carbon capture technology that extracts carbon molecules from air containing greenhouse gas and re-arranges those molecules into long-chain thermoplastic polymers that can match the performance of oil-based plastics and out-compete oil-based plastics on price.
The company’s technology has been continuously operated at large scale over a number of years on a variety of gas sources, ranging from methane-based biogas to CO2-rich air. Newlight’s conversion technology can synthesize high-performance thermoplastics from a wide range of sources, including from wastewater treatment facilities, landfills, digesters, or energy facilities.
Ki plans to introduce the carbon-negative chairs into its Strive and Grazie product lines this year.