


Chlorine is taken from rock salt through an electrolytic process that results in chlorine, sodium, and hydrogen (Baitz, 2004). Petroleum occupies 43% of the polymer weight (Baitz, 2004).
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Polymerisation takes place creating polyvinyl chloride which is then compounded with additives and processed for the final product.Įthylene is produced when petroleum is refined to naphtha, cracked with steam power, and then chemically reacted to form ethylene (Baitz, 2004). These primary materials go through a thermal decomposition that results in ethylene dichloride (EDC) and is then converted to Vinyl Chloride (VCM). PVC can be reduced to its most basic raw materials ethylene and chlorine. For flexible PVC used in synthetic leather, the weight proportions are 53% PVC polymer, 40% plasticiser, 1% stabiliser, 5% filler, and 1% other (Baitz, 2004). Additives include plasticisers, stabilisers, and fillers. Polyvinyl chloride requires additives to prolong its life cycle because it is a brittle material in its pure form and susceptible to deterioration under light and heat (Baitz, 2004). PVC is a thermoplastic polymer based on chlorinated hydrocarbons (Baitz, 2004). Polyvinyl Chloride, or PVC, is a type of plastic coating used on fabric to make synthetic leather. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Raw Materials and Production: If people didn’t have a constant demand for newer, more stylish synthetic leather products there would be less resources we must tap into in order to make polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane for synthetic leather.

Instead of creating more product life cycles with recycled material, it would be ideal to have a lower demand for the product and thus a lower amount of extracted resources, used energy, and harmful emissions. However, lowering the product consumption is the best solution. Product durability seems to be a good solution for waste management by inhibiting the speed of the product life cycle with better raw materials (Blackburn, 2009). While currently manufacturers are feeding excess chemicals back into the life cycle to produce more synthetic leather, it doesn’t seem efficient. In the production of synthetic leather, the raw materials acquired from the earth are heavily processed to make polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane and excess chemicals during processing are recycled. Life Cycle of Synthetic Leather and Raw Materials:
