AkzoNobel has discovered a way to add self-cleaning properties and extend the life of its paints. Pioneered by one of the company’s product developers, Dr. Peter Greenwood, the company added colloidal silica to its paints and found it gave them this unique quality and durability.
Through rigorous testing, AkzoNobel found that the paints now last up to 16 years, which is 25 percent longer than the standard product.
“If a paint can last longer, its longevity is one of the key parameters for the environmental impact of a paint,” added Greenwood.
The company’s new products boast the benefits of being self-cleaning, longer-lasting and more durable to a range of environmental conditions (such as extreme temperature and sunlight exposure). The paint was used at several test sites as part of a rigorous testing process, and achieved promising results.
“In this test station the panels get exposed to a lot of UV lights as well as different weather conditions. Sometimes it’s very cold, sometimes it’s quite hot. So it’s a really tough test. So if the panels can survive here, they can survive anywhere,” Jenny Lundegård, Innovation Manager at AkzoNobel, explains in the video. “We are all very proud of being a part of this, actually. It’s really something extra to see your product out on the shelves and know that you made a sustainable difference.”
This product development is just one of several recent sustainability innovations from the busy Dutch chemical and coatings company: It is developing an urban resilience guide for cities as part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative; it also recently announced the creation of the first fully compostable and recyclable paper cup, and collaborated with Photanol to develop bio-based chemical compounds through photosynthesis.
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Published Oct 15, 2014 3pm EDT / 12pm PDT / 8pm BST / 9pm CEST