Ciba’s R&D Award 2007 recently was presented to the international team responsible for developing an innovative technology that allows high-performance light stabilizers to be readily incorporated into waterborne coatings.

Ciba’s R&D Award 2007 recently was presented to the international team responsible for developing an innovative technology that allows high-performance light stabilizers to be readily incorporated into waterborne coatings. Novel Encapsulated Additives Technology (NEAT) enables the production of environmentally more sustainable coatings without compromising on key performance criteria. Hydrophobic light stabilizers are first encapsulated in a polymer and then dispersed in water in small, stabilized droplets.

Professor Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn, a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry and a member of the Ciba Board of Directors, presented the award at this year’s Research & Development Conference in Basel, Switzerland. Based in Basel and Amagasaki, Japan, the award-winning team includes Frank Pirrung and Carsten Schellenberg (project leads), as well as Delphine Kimpel, Wolfgang Peter and Junichi Tanabe, all of the Coating Effects Segment.

Ciba launched the first commercial NEAT product less than three years after technology development began. The concept has since been expanded to a range of encapsulated additives for waterborne coatings, including hindered amine light stabilizers and UV absorbers. The patented technology is being further explored for new applications and markets.

For more information, visit www.ciba.com.