Hexpol rubber compounding sites in Europe now provide the carbon footprint of their compounds

Malmö, Sweden – HEXPOL Compounding Europe sites can provide full transparency about product carbon footprints of their compounds. HEXPOL’s Rubber Compounding sites in Europe can now provide the carbon footprint of their compounds with an internal calculation tool built upon the principles of ISO 14067:2018. HEXPOL’s methodology of calculating the PCF data for the cradle-to-gate scope was recently certified by TÜV Rheinland.

The Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) is one of the most established methods for determining the climate impact of a product. It is the sum of greenhouse gas emissions (and removals) in a product system, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents or CO2e. The PCF data is calculated individually for each compound. Detailed information regarding the emissions caused by raw materials, transport, and production will be provided. It will also indicate how much of the underlaying data is coming from primary or secondary sources. The PCF data is created at the customer’s request.

According to HEXPOL, the compounding division is one of the first market players being able to provide this level of transparency to customers. The PCF calculator furthermore helps R&D teams to choose materials with lower emissions when creating or adjusting recipes.

“The challenge is collecting the PCF data for thousands of different raw materials from our suppliers” says Klas Lindberg, purchasing director of HEXPOL Europe and Asia. “Although the interest in PCF data is rapidly increasing, not all raw material suppliers are able to provide reliable data”.

” Whenever primary data cannot be provided by the manufacturer, PCF data from various sources is considered, explains Daniel Pankert, Process Intelligence Manager at HEXPOL Compounding Europe, and one of the lead developers of the tool. He adds: “Our information on PCFs reflects HEXPOL’s current knowledge but is constantly evolving. PCF figures may be revised when new information is available.”