Yamamoto Neoprene: From the Sea, for the Sea
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 11.21.07
Know how when you buy something new suddenly you begin to see the same thing everywhere, when before you’d never noticed? It’s a bit the same here. We post a story on something that seems freshly green and maybe even a bit unique. But lo and behold they’re all over the show.
Patagonia’s wetsuit inner is made of recycled polyester and merino wool which is funcky enough, but it was the outer neoprene of crushed limestone that sounded so exotic. Until we saw Body Glove were doing much the same thing. And readers alerted us to Matuse of California, and it didn’t stop there. Nemo wetsuits from Bali, Indonesia, Seventh Wave from New Zealand, NinePlus out of Cornwall, and Blue Seventy from Virginia. And no doubt a bunch of others too, but you get the picture.
Now, not all are making wetsuits from an ecological standpoint, but what they do have in common is that they chose Yamamoto limestone-based neoprene from Japan. The company say their limestone is over 99.7% calcium carbonate and took 80,000,000 years to make, as shell secretions of marine organisms were deposited on the floor of the open ocean.
The company suggest their rubber has a 23% higher close cell structure than oil derived neoprene, making it more buoyant, while also having a maximum elongation of over 480%, where human skin stretches only up to about 60 to 70%. The extra cells are filled with nitrogen gas and this makes wetsuits from the stuff warmer. Additionally Yamamoto contend that their neoprene is close to 95% water impermeable, compared to the petroleum-based standard of almost 70%.
Matuse, who term their version of the material, Geoprene, note that their Yamamoto rubber wetsuits have a low surface friction coefficient of 0.032, whereas old-world neoprene’s drag coefficient is 4.0. As they say, “Metaphorically speaking, this translates to you being the hot knife and water being the butter.” It sure is curious stuff. ::Yamamoto
This story may be a little misleading. The great bulk of the material appears to be ordinary oil-derived neoprene rubber. The limestone derived component seems to be only the outermost water-proofing layer. I'm not sure that calling this product "greener" than ordinary neoprene (or green at all) is justified.
Unless they are able to replicate their production process using common limestone, I doubt that a material produced using a unique type of limestone arising from very specific geological conditions has anything to do with ecology.
Calcium carbonate that took 80,000,000 years to build up doesn't sound very renewable. This sounds like a nice case of greenwash.
-- Chloroprene is the common name for the organic compound 2-chloro-1,3-butadiene, which has the chemical formula CH2=CCl-CH=CH2. This colorless liquid is the monomer for the production of the polymer polychloroprene, a type of synthetic rubber. Polychloroprene is better known to the public as Neoprene, the trade name DuPont gave it when the company first developed it and currently used by DuPont Performance Elastomers.
Until the 1960s, chloroprene production was dominated by the “acetylene process,” which was modeled after the original synthesis of vinyl acetylene.[2] In this process, acetylene is dimerized to give vinyl acetylene, which is then combine with hydrogen chloride to afford in succession vinyl acetylene, 3-chloro-1,2-butadiene, which, finally in the presence of cuprous chloride, rearranges to the targeted 2-chloro-1,3-butadiene.[1] The conversion is shown here:
Main hazards
Highly flammable, toxic.
NFPA 704
-- The principal raw materials for acetylene manufacture are calcium carbonate (limestone) and coal. The calcium carbonate is first converted into calcium oxide and the coal into coke, then the two are reacted with each other to form calcium carbide and carbon monoxide:
-- Calcium carbide is produced industrially in an electric arc furnace loaded with a mixture of lime and coke at approximately 2000 °C. This method has not changed since its invention in 1888:
-- Lime is a general term for various naturally occurring minerals and materials derived from them, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides of calcium predominate.
In other words BS!
Mike Says:
January 25th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Finally was able to afford a Matuse, ok with the fit, and keeps me somewhat warm (I have a 4/3 Hoplite). . BUT…and this is a big BUT, I am very upset that they market this suit as eco friendly or as their website reads: “This rubber represents an environmental Lovefest”. Firstly, I am a chemical engineer here in Cali and secondly, I DO NOT WORK WITH A WETSUIT COMPANY. I wish I did because I could then get free suits to wear instead of spending over $500.
Calicium Carbonate (CaCO3) is no better for the environment than regular neoprene that the rest of the surf industry uses. Calcium Carbonate actually requires more energy to heat up than standard neoprene. Calcination of the limestone using standard equipment (pressure kiln or gas chamber kiln) will need to heat up to ≈850˚C or 1562˚F.
Standard neoprene, which by the way, already contains calcium carbonate, requires≈400 °C or 752°F. Now you don’t need to be a scientist to understand that the temperature is more than doubled in order to make this eco-friendly rubber. With more heat requires more energy i.e. fossil fuels, and with more energy means…more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So…we may feel like we are saving Mama Earth but in reality we aren’t. For all we know there might be a huge hole in our ozone layer above Osaka at the Yamamoto plant.
But regardless of these facts, the blame is on the advertisers of Matuse. You could have just said, “The best neoprene on the market or even ON PLANET EARTH.” and I would have believed you. But don’t try and fool us when you could have done a simple Wikipedia search to understand the fundamentals of calcium carbonate or even standard neoprene. Do your homework guys, don’t let corporate salesmen (and women) sell you eco-friendly ideas just for the sake of jumping on the eco friendly bus. Don’t worry, Matuse hasn’t lost a customer, I will wear the suit until it falls apart…and then throw it away where it will take 7 million more years to go back to its state from which it started, calcium carbonate.
I have to say that I purchased a Matuse wetsuit this winter. I have never had a wetsuit keep me as warm as Matuse wetsuit. I tried the Patagonia and it didn't fit me great and was a little heavy. The Nine Plus just didn't feel that great so I went with the Matuse since it fit me well and felt so good on my skin. I surf almost everyday during the winter and I buy 2 fullsuits every season. To my surprise my Matuse lasted the whole winter and is still going strong. I have not felt any drop off in performance in regards to warmth and flexibility. I'm pretty sure I will get at least one more season out of it. This to me is a huge benefit since I don't have to throw away two wetsuits every year.
I don't know about all the technical stuff in terms of the production process but what I do know is the material Matuse uses is awesome. I am a customer for life. I also think that using a limestone rock is better than starting with oil. How many wars have been started over limestone and how many people have died securing rights to limestone? Probably none compared to oil. That in itself to me is worth a lot. To me getting off our dependency for foreign oil is a huge issue. But really the final most important result for me (for wetsuits) is how does the final product work. For me it's hands down the best wetsuit I've ever used in the past 22 years of surfing.
On a side note I think the landfills will also appreciate having less wetsuits dumped in them if the ones people use last longer. I don't think we are even close to having a purely eco friendly product when it comes to wetsuits but it's all relative to me. If it helps the environment a little more then it's a step in the right direction. If it performs better that is my main concern. My Matuse in my eyes is a win win for those categories. So unless we all walk to the beach, wear no wetsuit and ride boards made only from bamboo we all impact the environment negatively. It's not perfect but taking steps in the right direction is what I think it's about. I'm just glad we now are getting more choices when it comes to wetsuits. Paddle out and spread the love!
Might be worth checking your facts before shooting Matuse and their limestone rubber down. Here's a quote from a thread I picked up on the net whilst researching them, which shows that Yamamoto use renewable energy to power their plant.
"Here is where it gets even better: the energy used to produce the calcium carbonate middle is 1/10 as taxing as the energy needed to produce a normal neoprene interior. The energy used to make the limestone suits comes from hydropower and excess heat produced is used in an eel nursery for food production."