The first AkzoNobel Cross Link Award was won by the Decorative Paints Research & Innovation Group and the Functional Chemicals Elotex business for their co-operation on Sustainable Latexes.
The winning entry had its origins in a collaboration between research teams in the then ICI Decorative Paints and Wilton Applied Research Group on the structure-property relationships of novel latexes based on biorenewable polymers. This work led to initial pilot plant trials and paint evaluation by the Decorative Paints team, based at Slough in the UK, followed by the business's Latin America Resins group, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which optimized and scaled up the production of both the biomonomer used to make the resin and subsequently the latex itself.
The successful application of more sustainable latexes by the Decorative Paints business and its expertise in developing novel biomonomers for them was 'picked up' by the Elotex business of Functional Chemicals, based at Sempach Station in Switzerland, who are now investigating the latexes for applications within its own business.