South Korea-based chemical company Hyosung TNC has succeeded in extracting spandex from corn and commercialising the world’s first bio-based spandex.

The clothing industry has a massive impact on the environment, in the form of waste, environmental degradation and GHG emissions. Spendex, in particular, are still produced with coal-extracted raw materials.

The company announced that it has successfully developed bio-derived spandex, ‘Creora bio-based’, using a natural material extracted from corn instead of coal, and obtained a global eco-friendly certification.The ‘Creora bio-based’ spandex uses a corn-derived substance that obtained an eco-friendly certificate from the US Department of Agriculture, replacing a part of coal-extracted raw materials.

Hyosung TNC will initially start production of the bio-based spandex at its production bases in South Korea including facilities in Gumi, and then increase its production through global production bases, such as those in Vietnam.

According to the Life Cycle Assessment, when ‘Creora bio-based’ is applied to the products, it can reduce water use by 39 per cent and carbon dioxide emissions by 23 per cent, compared to conventional spandex products.