Silicone rubber from plant based materials
Düsseldorf, Germany – Industrial grade silicone rubber compounds whose precursors are derived from plant based raw materials will be introduced by Wacker at K 2022, the international trade fair for plastics and rubber taking place in Düsseldorf, Germany, October 19- 26. Wacker will unveil several biomethanol based product lines under the Elastosil eco umbrella, including one liquid and six solid silicone rubber grades, as well as selected Silmix silicone rubber compounds.
The use of biomethanol in silicone production helps preserve fossil resources. The chemical industry is committed to continuously reducing its use of fossil raw materials. One strategy is to replace these with identical materials from renewable resources, an option best implemented using the mass balance approach. This method allows manufacturers to process raw materials from fossil based and renewable sources at the same time, later assigning them to specific products according to the proportions in which they were used. In this way, the mass balance approach ensures that the “bio-based” label is applied only to those products that can be verified as being based on renewable raw materials.