MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Dow Chemical Company, the largest US chemical maker by sales, has been named a winner of the 2013 US presidential green chemistry challenge award for its development of EVOQUETM pre-composite polymer technology, reported the company on its site.
This Dow innovation helps coatings formulators improve paint performance properties while using less titanium dioxide (TiO2), a white pigment that is energy intensive to manufacture but ubiquitous in architectural paint for its ability to provide quality hiding.
This win marks the 9th time that Dow and its affiliates have won the presidential green chemistry award, more than double any other company in award history.
"EVOQUE pre-composite polymer technology was developed with the goal of driving gains in sustainability through more efficient raw material use coupled with increased paint performance," said Keith Watson, global R&D director, Dow Coating Materials and Performance Monomers. "This is our latest development in bringing more sustainable chemistry to the coatings industry, which began when we introduced waterborne binder technology 60 years ago. With the development and market acceptance of EVOQUE pre-composite polymer technology, we are once again driving innovation that is changing the way that paint is made and how we expect it to perform."
EVOQUETM pre-composite polymer allows formulators to further improve TiO2 efficiency and also raise paint performance in key areas such as stain resistance and durability. A recent third-party validated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) showed that paints formulated with EVOQUETM technology yielded the lowest environmental impact compared to similar technologies in 10 out of 10 key categories, including resource depletion and green house effect. The LCA also demonstrated that EVOQUE pre-composite polymers reduced the paint’s carbon footprint by more than 22% and water consumption by 30%.
As MRC wrote previously, Dow Chemical plans to separate chlorine-related assets including its epoxy business as the company focuses on higher-margin activities. The chlorine assets account for as much as USD5 billion of annual revenue and include plants at 11 sites employing almost 2,000 people. Dow said it hired financial advisers to look at options for the assets including sales, joint ventures and spinoffs. It expects to complete transactions for the assets in the next year or two.
The Dow Chemical Company is an American multinational chemical corporation. As of 2007, it is the second-largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue (after BASF) and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization (after BASF and DuPont). Dow is a large producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethane, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubber.
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