Innovative light stabilizer technology for water-based coatings wins Ciba R&D Award 2007

An international team yesterday received the Ciba R&D Award 2007 for developing an innovative technology that allows high-performance light stabilizers to be readily incorporated into waterborne coatings. Novel Encapsulated Additives Technology (NEAT) enables production of environmentally more sustainable coatings without compromising on key performance criteria. Hydrophobic light stabilizers are first encapsulated in a polymer and then dispersed in water in small, stabilized droplets.

Professor Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn, a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry and a member of the Ciba Board of Directors, presented the award at this year’s Research & Development Conference in Basel, Switzerland. Based in Basel and Amagasaki, Japan, the award-winning team includes Frank Pirrung and Carsten Schellenberg (project leads) as well as Delphine Kimpel, Wolfgang Peter and Junichi Tanabe, all of the Coating Effects Segment.

Ciba launched the first commercial NEAT product less than three years after technology development began. The concept has since been expanded to a whole range of encapsulated additives for waterborne coatings, including hindered amine light stabilizers and UV absorbers. The patented technology will be further explored for new applications and markets.

Chief Technology Officer Martin Riediker comments: “The work of this team has enabled us to take a technological leap long awaited by the industry. With solvent emission regulations becoming ever more stringent, NEAT sets a new standard for the stabilization of waterborne coatings, where it can significantly expand the application range of non-polar additives while maintaining the highest level of performance.”

The NEAT approach bypasses the traditional trade-off between water solubility and light stabilizer performance by encapsulating additives in a suitable polymer, preventing them from interacting with the water-based solution. Because the encapsulated substance undergoes no change, coatings can be diversified and tailored using NEAT products without compromise on performance.