Cognis focuses on performance chemicals working in harmony with nature.

At this year's Eurocoat trade show for the coatings industry held in Barcelona, Spain, Cognis' Polymers, Coatings & Inks (PCI) business unit presented market-ready concepts for a variety of industrial applications, including the company's award-winning environmentally friendly Disponil AFX surfactant systems and Perenol S 57, a 100-percent active matter, silicone-based slip modifier and leveling agent for printing inks, coatings and paints. These are intended to provide Cognis' customers with solutions that combine superior performance, sustainability and convenience, while helping them to reduce costs.

Surfactants have proven their value in household detergents and cleansing products, as well as in technical applications, such as the manufacture of polymer dispersions. However, the alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) traditionally employed for this purpose are environmentally problematic, which has led to the European Union banning them from being used in many applications. Cognis presented its Disponil AFX surfactant systems at the trade show, a high-performance, biodegradable alternative for use in a variety of technical applications. Disponil AFX is made from renewable raw materials and is comparable to APEs in terms of both cost-effectiveness and performance. Using such alternatives to APEs enables manufacturers of emulsion polymerization, paints and varnishes to comply with environmental regulations.

To satisfy growing demand for high-quality surface coatings and inks, Cognis has developed a new 100-percent silicone-based additive. Perenol S 57 significantly reduces the surface tension in UV-based systems, and provides excellent substrate wetting, even on critical substrates. The additive also improves surface slip which enhances scratch resistance in a variety of systems. Orange-peel effects can be reduced, increasing gloss values. Perenol S 57 is effective even in very low concentrations and can be used in UV-based systems, as well as in water- and solvent-borne coatings and inks.

Cognis' PCI business unit has identified sustainability, convenience and performance as trends where market requirements are becoming more exacting and has concentrated its innovation strategy on these fields. "With environmentally compatible production processes, and products that are ecologically superior and toxicologically safe in their application, we can offer our industrial customers solutions which they can use to carve out a lead for themselves, both on the manufacturing side and in their consumer markets," said Uwe Held, technical sales functional products.