CleanCloud™ – is a new high-performance foam for running shoes, created using carbon emissions as a raw material.
On is leading a supply chain coalition to reshape carbon waste into running shoes, working in cooperation with LanzaTech and Borealis.
With CleanCloud™, carbon emission is the starting point for the creation of EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) foam – which is engineered into high-performance cushioning for running shoes. This is a result of four years of intense research.
A team approach
LanzaTech uses a combination of cutting-edge genetic engineering, state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, and innovations in mechanical and chemical engineering to manufacture chemicals using a process that soaks up carbon rather than emitting it.
Borealis is a leading provider of advanced, circular and renewable plastic solutions and essential in creating high-performance, easy-to-process EVA foam for CleanCloud™. This collaboration allows Borealis to further advance its circular journey, in carbon and in plastic.
The process of creating CleanCloud™
The first step in the CleanCloud™ process is intercepting carbon emissions before they escape into the atmosphere. LanzaTech's technology captures carbon monoxide emitted from industrial sources like steel mills or landfill sites.
Once captured, these emissions enter a patented fermentation process. Specially selected bacteria, ferments the carbon dioxide gas to liquid ethanol. This is a natural fermentation process and follows similar steps to those you’d find in a traditional brewery.
The ethanol is then dehydrated (to become ethylene) before being polymerized by Borealis to become EVA – the versatile and lightweight material that ON Shoes works with to create a performance foam for shoes: CleanCloud™.
Sustainability = Performance
The overall goal for CleanCloud™ is to exchange all bottom units from On shoes currently made from EVA with this new material. This would include the whole Cloud range and THE ROGER collection, as well as part of our active lifestyle assortment.
With these first-of-a-kind innovations, On is setting the pace for developing a circular economy in sportswear.
Source: ON Shoes
15-Nov-21 
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