As the world’s first melamine foam manufacturer, BASF now introduces Basotect EcoBalanced which helps to reduce the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) of many sound absorption applications in the transportation as well as in the building and construction industries. Basotect EcoBalanced has an up to 50% lower PCF than the respective BASF standard grades because of two sustainability levers: It is manufactured in a resource-efficient process using 100% green electricity; and the fossil raw materials needed to produce it have been replaced with renewable feedstock at the very beginning of the production. The renewable feedstock comes from organic waste and residual biomass and is attributed to the Basotect grade via a mass balance approach which is certified according to REDcert and ISCC Plus. Thus, Basotect EcoBalanced not only contributes to reducing the use of fossil resources: BASF also offers its customers transparency by providing reliable PCF data to support them in evaluating their own products and achieving their sustainability targets.
Compared to other melamine resin foams on the market, e.g. Basotect G+ EcoBalanced shows a PCF which is more than two-thirds lower (at 9kg/m³). What is more: In comparison to alternative insulation materials like PET fleece (30kg/m³) it achieves considerably lower emissions. In addition to these sustainability advantages, Basotect EcoBalanced is an easy drop-in solution: It shows the same material performance as respective standard grades. Manufacturers of applications like engine covers, wall and ceiling sound absorbers, HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) parts and air cleaners do not have to adapt their existing manufacturing process or invest extra money into new processing lines. Most of these applications made of Basotect EcoBalanced do not have to be requalified, either.
“Our Basotect EcoBalanced is the melamine resin foam with the lowest PCF on the market,” says Tarek Abuzarour, head of global business management Basotect at BASF. “This helps our customers to take a decisive step towards their NetZero targets. They can rely on the same high quality with Basotect EcoBalanced to which you are accustomed. At the same time they can differentiate their products from competition by extra sustainability benefits - and they can contribute to the reduction of fossil resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.” BASF is the first company with transparent emission data for their melamine resin foam. This helps customers to better measure and reduce the CO2 footprint of their products in transportation as well as in building and construction - industries that play a crucial role in reducing global emissions.
Reliable calculation and third-party certification for proven lower PCF
BASF has developed a digital application to calculate the cradle-to-gate PCFs for its 45,000 sales products, including Basotect. The PCF comprises all product-related greenhouse gas emissions that occur until the BASF product leaves the factory gate: from the purchased raw material to emissions from operations and the use of energy in production processes. Options for reducing PCF include the usage of green electricity in the production process or attributing renewable materials via a biomass balance approach. In this approach, the fossil feedstocks in the first steps of production are replaced by biomass-based resources. The renewable amount is then attributed to specific products at the end of the manufacturing process by means of a third-party certified method: An independent certification confirms that BASF has replaced the required quantities of fossil feedstock for the biomass balanced product that customers buy with renewable feedstock according to the REDcert and ISCC Plus requirements.
