European coatings conference held.

The European Coatings Conference, organized by Vincentz Network, will take place for the second time in Berlin Germany. Dedicated to the topic, "Novel biocide technology," the conference will be held February 24-25 at the Hotel Holiday Inn Esplanade in Berlin.

During this two-day conference, 14 invited international experts from leading companies and research insititutes will present their recent research results.

The conference will be divided into two major topics. The first day will explore organic biocides and will focus on finding more effective biocide systems for specific coatings applications, while avoiding the costs connected to BPD approval.

Presentations on the second day of the conference will explore antimicrobial coating systems, showing a large variety of systems proposed to make surfaces antimicrobially active, including inorganic silver particles, blends of organic biocides, surface modifications or polycationic polymer biocides.

Two keynote papers have been included, focusing on the challenges of microbial attack and test methods. "Mildew-caused damage on automotive coatings," will be presented by Ulrich Schulz, Federal Institute for Materials Research  and Testing, Germany. "Regulatory and efficacy test requirements for antimicrobial coatings," will be presented by Peter D. Askew, Industrial Microbiological Services Ltd., U.K.

Technical Session I will include the following presentations: "Regulatory compliant dry-film biocides--the challenge ahead," John Gillat, Thor Specialties, U.K.; "Regulatory influences on biocide innovation--views from a medium sized biocide company," Holger Zitt, Bode Chemie GmbH, Germany; "The influence of coated film thickness upon the activity of dry film preservatives," Matthew Daulby, Schulke & Mayr GmbH, Germany; "Recent film preservatives technology--how to select the proper biocide," Wolfgang Lindner, Troy; "Pyrithiones for paint film protection: Versatile active ingredients with dual fungicidal/algicidal activity," Paul S. Kappock, Arch Chemicals, U.K.; and "Polyencapsulated dry film preservative for paint--a best alternative," Prakash Pathare, Melzer Chemicals Ltd., India.

Technical Session II will include the following presentations: "Antimicrobial coatings with micro/nanosilver," Michael Wagener, Bio-Gate Bio-innovative Materials GmbH, Germany; "Use of a formulated sanitizer for substrate restoration," Katrin Stienhauer, Schulke & Mayr GmbH, Germany; "Hygienic surfaces: New strategies for delivering antimicrobial effects on films," Alex Cornish, Arch Chemicals, U.K.; "Surface modification of atmospheric plasma activated BOPP by immobilizing biobased antimicrobials," Jari Vartiainen, VTT Biotechnology, Finland; and "A new generation of biocides for the coating and conservation industry," Andreas Schmidt and Apodtolos Georgopoulos, PoC Polymer Productions GmbH, Austria.

Further information on the European Coatings Conference is available from Amanda Beyer, tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone].