API presents best paper awards. (Meetings).

The Alliance for the Polyurethanes Industry announced the winners of the Polyurethanes Conference 2002 Best Paper Presentation and Best Poster Awards. A total of 13 paper awards and four poster awards were presented at the conference, held October 13-16 in Salt Lake City, UT.

The conference featured 72 technical paper presentations and 40 poster presentations. On average, technical session attendance was said to be up 12% over last year's meeting, and 14% over 2000's attendance.

Sessions on footwear and equipment returned to the conference schedule after short hiatuses, and for the first time ever the conference featured a session that looked at the upholstered furniture combustibility issue strictly through technical papers.

Technical paper awards winners with categories included the following:

* Environmental--"Emission of VOCs from bonded foam carpet underlayment," Brian Fogg, Huntsman Polyurethanes:

* Automotive and Low VOC Emissions--"Recent advances in the development of catalytically active polyols for the automotive market," J.M. Sonney, Dow Europe GmbH:

* Testing--"Polyiso insulation: Leading the way to long term thermal resistance (LTTR) values" Lorraine Ross, Intech Consulting;

* Construction--"Long term thermal resistance of pentane blown polyisocyanurate laminate boards," Sachchida N. Singh, Huntsman Polyurethanes;

* Automotive Applications--"Cannon's approach for RIM PU skin production: Evaluation of a recent application," Christian Cairati, Cannon Afros;

* Fundamentals--"New hybrid process for purification and separation of MDI isomers," Manfred Stepanski, Sulzer Chemtech Ltd.;

* Combustibility--"Intumescent barrier coatings," Ronald Dombrowski, TechTex Solutions;

* Blowing Agents--"Hydrocarbons/ pentanes co-blown PUR foams for improved fire performance," Doug Dillon, Atofina Chemicals;

* Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers (CASE)--"Physical properties of aromatic polyurea elastomer coatings after exposure to extreme conditions," Jay Johnston, Huntsman Polyurethanes;

* Furnishings--"Emanation free catalysis for the production of polyether polyurethane foam," R. Hoffman, Degussa AG Performance Chemicals;

* Appliance--"Novel processing of LBBA appliance systems," Jack Feighan, Huntsman Polyurethanes;

* Footwear--"Additives for improved processing of microcellular polyurethane shoe sole systems," Gary Andrew, Air Products & Chemicals; and

* Processing Innovations--"An innovative approach to flushing applications," Lauri Kirby, Dynaloy.

Poster Award winners and categories were as follows:

* CASE--"Polyurethane elastoplastics for load bearing applications," Aisa Sendijarevic, Troy Polymers;

* Flexible Foam/Automotive--"High-active built-in catalysts for low VOC applications avoid the odor of amine catalysts but improve the HACS values," Sven Uwe Keimling, Nitroil Performance Chemicals;

* Fundamentals/Equipment--"A unified spectroscopic methodology for the determination of isocyanate and hydroxyl number in the polyurethane industry," Paul Chabot, ABB Bomen; and

* Rigid Foam--"Soybean oil based polyisocyanurate cast resins," Ivan Javni, Pittsburgh State University;

Judges consisted of industry veterans, subject matter experts and members of the media. Technical paper criteria included originality and relevance of the technology, effectiveness of the speaker and clarity of the presentation. Posters were judged on both technical and artistic merits.

Further information on these awards is available from the Alliance for the Polyurethanes Industry [phone].