From the road to the track: VESTAMID® eCO gives scrap tires a new life in athletic shoes

Essen, Germany. Evonik is introducing a new sustainable high- performance plastic to its eCO product line. In the production of the polyamide 12 elastomer (PEBA) VESTAMID® eCO E40, 50 percent of fossil raw materials are saved and replaced by a starting material obtained from chemical recycling of used tires. In addition, only renewable energy is used in production, which reduces the carbon footprint by a total of 42 percent. Evonik will present VESTAMID® eCO and its other sustainable plastic materials under the motto "Next generation plastic solutions" at this year's K trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany, October 19-26, at booth B28 in hall 6.

VESTAMID® eCO E40, like its classically produced counterpart VESTAMID® E40, is a thermoplastic elastomer from the polyether block amide family with consistently high quality. PEBA molding compounds have been valued by well-known sporting goods manufacturers for more than 40 years and are used, for example, in sports shoe soles. The new product name eCO reinforces Evonik's goal of reducing greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in production by using renewable or circular raw materials-in this case, raw materials from used tires that would otherwise end up in landfills or used thermally. This is achieved through the mass balance approach (further information: Mass Balance Approach VESTAMID® eCO). The method enables an immediate reduction of CO2 in existing plants and does not change the quality of the products in any way.

VESTAMID® eCO E40 is, without any restrictions, an immediate alternative with improved eco-balance for the long-established conventional molding compound for sports shoe soles with high resilience. The soles exhibit excellent low-temperature impact strength, chemical resistance and high elasticity, and are easy to color, process and overmold. Like the molding compounds of the VESTAMID® PEBA range, which have proven themselves for more than four decades, they can also be used in other demanding applications, such as in the automotive and medical technology industries.

In the mass balance method, the proportions of mixtures of fossil and renewable or circular raw materials are determined mathematically over the entire value chain during production and assigned to the products. A neutral body verifies this across all production stages and confirms the result in a certificate.