Wacker is now taking its concept for resource-efficient silicone manufacturing and is applying it to its silicone release coatings. Dehesive eco release agents are produced with the aid of non-fossil methanol obtained from renewable raw materials. Wacker says it is currently the only manufacturer to offer fossil-free silicone release agents for the label and film-coating industries.

The company uses methanol from both fossil and plant sources in its silicone production. It then records the mass balance of non-fossil methanol in its mix, allocating it to select product lines in proportion to the quantity of biomethanol used – an approach comparable to the green electricity certification system used in Germany.

The same mass balance method is applied for manufacturing Dehesive eco. Only certified non-fossil methanol made from straw or cut grass is used. “That makes Wacker the first company to introduce silicone release coatings that are sustainable and, most importantly, manufactured using resource-efficient methods,” says Hans Lautenschlager, who is responsible for release coatings within Wacker Silicones. “Dehesive eco is a product line in which 100% of the fossil-based methanol components have been replaced with methanol derived from renewable resources. In a market where sustainability and protecting the climate are becoming increasingly important, products like these give our customers a crucial competitive advantage.”

The basis for the Dehesive eco line is a coating system consisting of the Dehesive eco 902 AMA release coating, the CRA eco 17 controlled-release additive, the Wacker eco V 90 crosslinker and the Wacker eco C 05 catalyst. All eco products are formulated in exactly the same way as the corresponding standard release coating and possess the same product properties. In other words, there is no need for technical modifications to the coating process.

“When justified by the response and demand, we will expand our eco series one step at a time,” Lautenschlager points out. “Dehesive eco does more than just make our product portfolio more sustainable. The release coatings industry stands to benefit from this product line as well. After all, the use of fossil-free release agents doesn’t just help us conserve valuable resources – it makes the process of manufacturing release liners and films more sustainable on thewhole.”