Covestro highlights use of its low-carbon-footprint MDI materials in refrigerators by home appliances brand Midea Group, featured at China International Import Expo; materials are ISCC+ certified, made with a blend of fossil- and biomass-based feedstock

New low-carbon-footprint green refrigerators developed by global home appliances brand Midea Group using materials from Covestro were launched today at Covestro’s exhibition booth at the fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE). These refrigerators are insulated with more sustainable polyurethanes. Covestro and Midea are committed to transitioning to a low-carbon home appliances industry through cooperation, bringing low-carbon appliances to more households.

The two models of Midea’s odourless series refrigerators (BCD-439WFPZM and BCD-516WFGPZMA) use low-carbon-footprint MDI through a mass balance approach from Covestro, a transparent certified solution based on the third-party International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS standard. ISCC is an internationally recognized sustainable development certification system for biomass and bioenergy. Through the mass balance approach, raw materials from biomass or waste are blended with fossil materials and then mathematically attributed to the final products to achieve greenhouse gas reductions. Since mass-balanced products have the same performance as fossil-based products, customers do not need to change their existing production process or equipment.

Realizing the mass production of the low-carbon-footprint refrigerators 

At last year’s CIIE, Covestro made the Asia debut of its mass-balanced MDI. MDI is a key raw material for producing polyurethane thermal insulation layers for refrigerators. This year, the application of the mass-balanced MDI to Midea refrigerators marks the mass production of low-carbon-footprint polyurethane products within the home appliances industry.

Christine Bryant, the Global Head of Tailored Urethanes Business Entity at Covestro, said, “the collaboration with Midea extends the low-carbon-footprint polyurethane to the broad home appliances market. Looking forward, Covestro will develop more solutions through technological innovation to empower the sustainable development and low-carbon transition of the chemical engineering industry and its downstream industries.”

Bringing the new generation of low-carbon green refrigerators within reach

The low-carbon-footprint MDI in the two models of refrigerators has a 60 percent share of biomass raw materials from plants, reducing carbon emissions by percent compared to fossil-based MDI.

Midea, the pioneer of green and intelligent home appliances, is among the first enterprises to obtain the national green product certification. Both models of refrigerators have received the China Green Product Certification, which meets the relevant requirements in terms of practicality, environmental protection, energy saving (energy efficiency rates Class 1), and health (hazardous substance content less than or equal to 1000 mg/kg).

In addition to the display on the booth, Midea will sell the BCD-439WFPZM refrigerators through live streaming on its official Tiktok account, “Midea Refrigerator Flagship Store”. More consumers will be able to buy low-carbon-footprint appliances through the Expo and can become involved in carbon reduction efforts.

Huawei Zhang, the R&D Director of Refrigerator Business at Midea, stated, “The collaboration between Midea and Covestro on low-carbon-footprint green refrigerators marks that low-carbon-footprint PU products have entered the consumer market. To meet the growing demand for sustainable development, we believe that this cooperation can serve as a reference for the whole industry and open more cooperation opportunities on low-carbon materials. We look forward to cooperating with Covestro to take greater corporate social responsibility together.”