Exploring the differences between oil-based neoprene and limestone neoprene can help you understand the impact your choice may have the next time you purchase a neoprene wetsuit.
Exploring the differences between oil-based neoprene and limestone neoprene can help you understand the impact your choice may have the next time you purchase a neoprene wetsuit.
Oil-Based Neoprene
Neoprene is a synthetic rubber first developed by DuPont in the 1930s. It is made by mixing melted polychloroprene chips, blowing agents, and pigments together, then baking the mixture to form a thick sponge. Traditionally, petroleum products have been used to make polychloroprene chips. Therefore, making this material requires drilling, harvesting, transportation, and consumption of a non-renewable resource called petroleum. Obviously, all of this should come at a cost to the environment.
Limestone Neoprene
Petroleum is a finite resource, and extracting, processing, and transporting it requires a lot of energy and is potentially dangerous. Limestone is also a finite resource. However, limestone is more abundant, and harvesting limestone has less impact on the environment. Limestone has been used for countless purposes for centuries, and now Yamamoto in Japan has perfected the technology to make neoprene from limestone. Instead of using petroleum products to make polychloroprene chips, a key ingredient in neoprene, Yamamoto uses calcium carbonate from limestone. This change has produced a more environmentally friendly neoprene, providing significant benefits to the environment and wetsuit users.
Yamamoto's products are well-known, such as Yamamoto Type 38, Yamamoto Type 39, Yamamoto Type 40, Yamamoto SCS (super composite skin), Yamamoto Aerodome, the thinnest Yamamoto BRS of only 0.3 mm, and so on.
Limestone neoprene has advantages compared with oil-based neoprene.
1. Warmer
Limestone neoprene has a highly porous structure, meaning the material is filled with tiny air chambers formed by closed cells.
2. Longer life
The tiny micropores in oil-based neoprene are interconnected. In limestone-based neoprene, they are independent. Instead, limestone-based neoprene is more durable, less prone to tearing, and able to disperse pressure, stretch, and stress throughout the structure. In short, neoprene wetsuits made from limestone tend to last longer.
3. Improved impermeability
Neoprene absorbs some water, but the tiny bubbles inside the material do not. Since neoprene made from limestone has more bubbles, it absorbs less water. This makes wetsuits made from this material lighter and more comfortable.
4. Reduced impact on the environment
Mining limestone may cause damage to the environment, but it costs less than it does to make oil. Similarly, it takes less energy to make polychloroprene chips from limestone than it does to make them from petroleum products. In addition, Yamamoto was careful to choose environmentally friendly power generation methods.
Mining limestone is also known to damage the environment, but its price is lower than that required for oil. Likewise, it takes less energy to make polychloroprene chips from limestone than it does to make them from petroleum products. In addition, Yamamoto has carefully selected environmentally friendly methods of power generation.