The winners of the award to honor the polyurethane industry will be announced at the Utech Europe event in November.

Previous inductees include e.g. Patrick Thomas, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Covestro

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Dienstleistungen

Utech Europe Awards Launched

The central issue in all polyurethane applications is the conversion from the past linear economy into a circular economy, and the use of sustainable raw materials in manufacturing. To do so, manufacturers are taking measures such as using bio-based raw materials, chemical recycling, and CO2 as a synthesis component. Digitalization, electromobility, autonomous driving and the construction industry are also driving PU development.

Insulation boards and metal composite elements are the primary applications for PU in the construction industry. Since buildings are  responsible for 40 % of global energy consumption, more efficient materials in this area can generate big savings, such as through improved insulations

Polyurethane (PU)

Bauwesen

Bauchemie

Baustoffe

Automotive

Elektronik

Polyurethan-Schaumstoffe (PUR)

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

Baubetrieb / Bauwirtschaft

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Polyurethan

Windkraft

Energieerzeugung

Erneuerbare Energie

Kunststoff

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Sustainable Growth

By means of high-performance processes, chemical recycling converts plastic waste into high-grade material for new plastic products. Moreover, freedom of design results by selecting a suitable process and the matching waste material. Hereby, the right combination permits customized polyols to be created for the desired application area.

Not only can multifunctional recycling plants split polyurethane by means of different processes; they are also able to recycle other plastics

Solvolysis Using Different Solvents in Practice

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Plastic Waste into  Custom-Made Polyols

In the midterm, a worldwide increase in PU consumption of 4 to 5 % per year is to be expected. Growth drivers are the sound economic performance in the major industrialized nations so far, and in particular the increasing prosperity in China and emerging markets. In future, the PU business will be strongly influenced by digitalization and the development of closed material life cycles.

In China, for the first time, PU resin is becoming commercial for the production of glass fiber-reinforced wind rotor blades

The Global PU Sales Reached a New Record in 2018 with just over 20 Million Tons

Schaumstoffe und Vorprodukte

Schaumstoffe

Standardkunststoffe

Thermoplaste

At the first glance, this year’s K was clearly focused on recycling and the circular economy. However, apart from these topics, many novelties were also exhibited in the classical plastics fields such as automotive. And many materials producers showed exciting new developments for electromobility in particular.

In total, 22 BASF materials were used in Hymer’s VisionVenture concept vehicle. Exciting new developments have been used, particularly for the paintwork and for the bathroom wall paneling seemingly made of solid slate

Automotive Trends at the K 2019

Elektromobilität

Mobilität

Streifinger, Florian

Polyamide

Electromobility and a Concept Vehicle

Utech Europe, the world-leading polyurethanes exhibition and conference taking place at the MECC in Maastricht, the Netherlands has been rescheduled to 16–18 November 2021.

16:9

20:7

Kunststoffverarbeitung allgemein

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Utech Europe Rescheduled to November 2021

How can gas mixtures from industrial production be put to good use to produce valuable materials and save crude oil at the same time? The research consortium of the project Carbon4PUR has found answers to this question.

Insulating panels made of rigid polyurethane foam based on Carbon4PUR technology.

Valued Materials from the Chimney

Thanks to new technologies and together with other chemical derivatives the greenhouse gas CO2 can be converted into plastic precursors. Covestro is developing sustainable insulating materials for the construction sector based on this raw material.

Using innovative CO2 technology, Covestro already produces the CO2-based precursor cardyon, which is utilized in the manufacture of mattresses, sports flooring, textile fibers and components for vehicle interiors

Dämmstoffe

Using CO2 in Rigid Foam Insulation Boards

From November 2021, Adient will be integrating cardyon, a polyol made using Covestro’s CO2 technology, as a sustainable feedstock for the production of hot cure molded polyurethane foam.

Adient supports the reuse of CO2 as a raw material and thus contributes to the development of the circular economy

Kreislaufwirtschaft

Sustainable PU Foam for Automotive Seating Systems

Plastics can also remember things. This is made clear by a new thermoplastic polyurethane. The shape memory polymer can be temporarily fixed in a deformed state and then converted back almost entirely into its original shape. Potential applications exist in trademark protection and mechanical engineering as well as in the textile, sports, leisure and toy industries. 

Thermoplastic Polyurethane: Programmed to Have a Keen Memory 

Previously unknown possibilities in terms of quality, economy, ergonomy, and robust processes have been opened up by new approaches and solutions for the manufacture of fiber composite components on a series scale. Moreover, such components can also be designed with filigree or even bionic surface structures in future – also with in-mold painting. 

Fiber Composite Components: Start of a New Era 

In the last three years, global consumption of polyurethane has been growing by approx. 5 % per year. In 2012, it reached a volume of 15.3 million t. This encouraging growth trend can be expected to continue in both the middle and long term. The global factors strongly contributing to this include increasing urbanization and mobility, the economic growth driven by rising living standards, mainly in threshold countries, and last but not least, worldwide measures for saving energy. 

Stable Growth: Polyurethane (PU) 

An innovative process makes it possible for the first time to recover polyol from production scrap generated in standard flexible polyurethane foam block manufacture. Thanks to this process, the production scrap is suitable for recycling back into flexible foam manufacture, so bringing ecological and economic advantages. 

PU Recycling: Flexible Stays Flexible 

The rotor blades of wind power plants have to withstand enormous loads: Velocities of up to 300 km per hour are sometimes reached at the blade tips. And there is impact from rain, hail, snow, sand and UV radiation. Particular load acts upon the edges of the rotor blades. This is because rotor blades – which are mostly between 40 and 60, but sometimes even up to 90 meters long – consist of several components connected to each other. They are adhesion bonded, with the bond seam exactly at the blade edge. To protect the edge from erosion, sand and water, BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, developed the new Relest Wind LEP product. This new generation of polyurethane coating is due to protect the sensitive area of the rotor blade better than the known products. 

Shelter from the Wind and Storm 

Polyurethane Coating Relest Wind LEP 

Even though the solidification behavior of reactive polyurethane (PU) differs from that of thermoplastics, this material can be used for the projectile injection technique. The technology combines the excellent properties of PU with the economic benefits of injection molding and enables the production of complex elastomeric fluid-conducting hoses with adjustable flexibility and high impact strength. Additionally, the integration of a continuous fiber reinforcement leads to improved bursting strength in comparison to short fiber-reinforced thermoplastics. 

Fluid-Conducting Hoses with Complex Geometries Can Be Made of Reactive  Polyurethanes Now 

Glasfasern / -matten

Spritzgießen

Fluidinjektionstechnik

Improved Properties with Reactive Polyurethanes 

Covestro, Recticel and Vita triumph in product and innovation categories, Cannon Group’s Volpato honored with Lifetime Achievement Award.

Winners of the Utech Europe Awards 2021 were announced at the Utech Europe global polyurethane conference and exhibition, taking place at the MECC in Maastricht, Netherlands.

Covestro, Recticel and Vita were announced as winners of the product and innovation awards, while representatives from Ravago and Cannon Group were honored as the industry’s Rising Stars. Cannon Group’s CEO Marco Volpato was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award and inducted into the Utech Hall of Fame.

Winner in the Utech Europe Automotive Award is Recticel, Belgium, for OBoNature: a family of flexible foam systems with a large renewable component. Designed for use in modern vehicle interiors, OBoNature products are based on sustainable raw materials, are very low in emissions and odors and have excellent hydrolytic stability and mechanical properties.

Winner in the CASE sector is Covestro, Germany, for its Bend Restrictor powered by CO2-technology for offshore wind farms. Covestro Elastomers developed a PU system by using its innovative CO2-based polyol to obtain high mechanical performance, an improvement of hydrolysis resistance and an easier casting process with a longer pot life.

Vita Group won the Innovation award with two developments: Orbis a commercially available foam made using raw materials from the Renuva mattress recycling program and the Vita Rest Origin pillow made with castor-oil derived polyols. VitaRest Origin’s open-cell viscoelastic polyurethane foam responds to body heat and pressure points, maintaining the right balance between support and comfort.

Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Marco Volpato delivered this year’s Utech Europe conference’s keynote address. He took over the ownership and management of Cannon in 1974, giving him close to 50 years’ experience as a leader in the sector. He oversaw Cannon’s growth to become a premier global supplier of machinery for polyurethane foam manufacture before expanding into wider industrial automation. In addition to receiving the Europe Lifetime Achievement Award, Volpato was inducted into the Utech Europe Hall of Fame alongside four other distinguished industry colleagues:

<ul><li> Olivier Chapelle, CEO of Recticel</li><li>Grazyna Mitchener, Director, Polychemtech,</li><li>Tony Hankins, CEO Asia Pacific & Division President, Polyurethanes, Huntsman</li><li>Gene Murtagh, CEO, Kingspan</li></ul>

They join existing Hall of Fame inductees Patrick Thomas, former Chairman and CEO of Covestro; John Televantos Senior Partner at Arsenal Capital Partners. The Hall of Fame recognizes leaders who have made a significant contribution to the polyurethane industry and have spent at least 25 years in the polyurethane industry.

Two individuals were presented with Utech Europe Rising Star Awards, which salute emerging leaders making a difference in today’s polyurethane marketplace. They were Luca Campi, Industrial Automation Engineer at Cannon Group and Zeynep Çetin, Research & Development Leader at Ravago.

Industrial Automation Engineer Luca Campi joined Cannon in the R&D Lab and in nine years has developed polyurethane technologies that have introduced innovation and solved multiple technical issues. His work has resulted in no less than four patents that Cannon has filed in recent years.

Zeynep Çetin joined Ravago Group in 2018 and recently became Research and Development Leader for all polyurethane activities. She has been working in the field of polymer chemistry, polymer structure and characterisation, polyester synthesis and process for 10 years, most recently working on bio-based, water-based and recycling environmentally friendly polyurethane systems.

“Congratulations to all our winners in our inaugural Utech Europe polyurethane awards. We celebrate the achievements of the European polyurethane industry during some of the toughest times that the industry has faced, and we honor the achievements of our individual Hall of Fame inductees and Rising Stars,” said Brennan Lafferty, Vice President at Crain Communications which organizes Utech Europe. “The winning products and projects are a testament to the industry’s commitment to develop the use of polyurethane materials to meet the demands of the industry’s downstream clients and to rise to the challenge posed by the environment.”

Utech/Crain Communications Ltd  

The winners of the Utech Europe Polyurethane Award 2021

2021-11-25 Utech Europe Polyurethane

The distinguished panel of judges for the inaugural Utech Europe Awards comprised Michel Baumgartner, Secretary General, Europur; Jörg Palmersheim, Secretary General, Isopa & Alipa; Per Henning Vaagen, General Manager/CEO, Laader Berg; Tony Ryan, Technical Director – UK & Ireland, Kingspan Ltd; Mike Murray, CTO, Vita Group; Ulrich Liman, Senior Vice President, PU Business Unit, Covestro and Grazyna Mitchener, Director, Polychemtech. The awards are generously sponsored by Haltermann Carless.

issue 07/2022

issue 06/2022

issue 05/2022

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