Smart Effects: From Elements to Excellence – Partnering in Your Sustainability Journey
At Evonik Smart Effects business line, sustainability is more than a goal – it’s at the core of everything we do. On this page, you’ll discover how we combine our strengths and expertise in silane and silica technologies to deliver future-ready solutions to our sustainability goals – and achieve them by reducing the footprint of our processes and enhancing the handprint of our products.
Collaboration is the key to successful transformation
We see this as an ongoing journey, a continuous transformation across the entire value chain. We walk this path together with our suppliers, customers, and partners. By understanding the unique challenges of different markets, we develop tailored solutions for a wide range of applications and value chains. Our precipitated and fumed silica, metal oxides, and specialty silanes are designed to meet specific sustainability needs. Whether it’s reducing CO₂ emissions, implementing circular solutions, conserving resources, or protecting the environment - our products and solutions help customers optimize their value chains and benefit from smart effects.
Sustainability is at the core of all our activities. We are dedicated to improving the sustainability of the entire value chain and strive for creating a more sustainable future for all
Head of Evonik Smart Effects Business Line
DRIVING OUR OWN TRANSFORMATION
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We implement effective measures along our value chain
As part of Evonik's Next Generation technology development, our roadmap outlines sustainability targets for 2030. To achieve these goals, we leverage a range of initiatives, many developed in collaboration with our suppliers in line with our customer’s targets. Our key priorities include reducing CO₂ emissions through measures like adopting low-carbon energy at our sites and advancing the circular economy by repurposing industrial waste streams. We also focus on preserving biodiversity, conserving water, reducing waste, and promoting social responsibility. Updates on our activities and progress will be shared regularly on this website.
Beyond today
Transformation is a journey that demands commitment and perseverance. We embrace our responsibility for the impact of our activities on the environment and society and take decisive steps to address these challenges. For example, we have been conducting life cycle assessments (LCAs) for over a decade to transparently evaluate the environmental impact of our products throughout their lifecycle. These insights enable us to identify key levers for driving transformation.
Our Sustainability Success Stories
SUSTAINABILITY ENABLERS IN MANY MARKETS
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The handprint of our product portfolio
The products and solutions of our Smart Effect business line are used in a wide range of value chains. Versatile smart effects increase sustainability criteria in many applications – all along the value chain, from our customers' production processes to consumer products. Our fumed oxides, silica and silanes enhance production efficiency, help save resources and reduce CO2 emissions, and they extend the service life of components and products by improving quality and durability. Our products can even contribute to the protection of eco-systems and to healthy living. More details and concrete examples from practical applications can be found below.
Driving change together
We believe that alliances by partnerships and collaborations along the value chain are strong levers for solving the pressing global challenges. We do not only offer products whose handprint has been proven to improve sustainability in many applications. Instead, we work closely with our customers to develop individual solutions, for example to reduce the carbon footprint of their processes and products and to establish circularity.
A long product lifespan saves resources. Our chemicals provide durability, thermal and mechanical stability, or surface protection. For example, AEROXIDE® fumed metal oxides used as protective cathode coating extends the service life of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles by about 50%. Our Silica/Silane System reduces rolling resistance and improves wet grip in manyfold tire applications, all while minimizing abrasion and delivering highest road performance, and safety. Whereas Protectosil® anti-corrosion agents preserve concrete buildings for up to 100 years.
Production efficiency saves energy and resources, time and costs. Silica as a defoaming agent and anticaking aid helps avoid machine downtimes. In food and feed production, for example, it prevents clogging of powdered ingredients. This enhances efficiency along the whole value chain and reduces food loss. In semiconductor and microchip production, high-purity silanes and silica ensure ultra-precise and efficient processing – a fundamental requirement for the core technology of modern life.
Road traffic accounts for a high percentage of global CO2 emissions. The Silica/Silane filler system for tires lowers fuel consumption of passenger cars by up to 8%. Moreover: Evonik’s pioneering Silica/Silane formulation for “Green Truck Tires” enhances rolling resistance by up to 20%, resulting in fuel savings and less CO2 emissions in road transportation. Even our HYDREX® silica for paper contributes to low carbon logistics by weight reduction in white packing board.
Circular economy is essential for saving resources. Evonik Smart Effects pursues various approaches. One is renewable or recycled raw materials within our ULTRASIL® rubber silica portfolio for the tire industry. And we prolong the circularity of raw materials: Our pioneering Tetraethoxysilan recycling program regains and reprocesses TEOS byproducts from electronics customers. And recovering of silica from discarded circuit boards saves up to 71% CO2 compared to producing new silica.
Synthetic amorphous silica (SAS) is globally used as a safe food additive. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has once again confirmed that silica is safe to use in food, including infant and baby food. As an anticaking aid, silica reduces food loss during production and ensures convenient handling of spices or milk powder. As a nature-identical substance, silica is also safe to use as an abrasive and thickener in toothpaste.
Nature-identical substances such as synthetic amorphous silica contribute to cosmetics and home care formulations without microplastics. Evonik’s silica simply joins the natural cycle of silica, and it is not harmful to aquatic environments or wastewater plants. Silica also supports sustainable farming. It reduces nitrate/phosphate pollution by increasing efficacy and enabling the sparing use of plant protection products.
Small quantities of silica in personal care products make a major contribution to health. In toothpaste, silica serves a nature-identical abrasive for cleaning teeth from food particles and bacteria. Moreover: Silica increases the efficacy of active ingredients such as fluoride for caries prevention. In sun care products, silica acts as a SPF-booster by stabilizing the UV-filter in sunscreen formulations, protecting skin from UV-radiation.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have further questions about the sustainability goals of Evonik Smart Effects or regarding the handprint and footprint of our products? Here you will find answers.
