BETHESDA, MD – The best papers presented at the RadTech 2008 Conference and Exhibition in Chicago have been announced. The conference featured cutting-edge presentations on EB and UV industrial technologies.

 

John Garnett, head of RadTech Australia, was awarded the best paper this year with his presentation on "Novel UV/EB-Curable Flame Retardant Coatings Using Unique Water Compatible Oligomers; Applications of the Coatings Particularly for Recycling Waste Products Such as Banana Tree Trunks."

 

"Dr. Garnett's paper lent itself to green chemistry by turning waste into usable product, using renewable resources that advance sustainability, applying the chemistry such that it could benefit humanitarian interests and applications, and using the unique properties of the raw material to their advantage," commented Molly Hladik, the RadTech 2008 Technical Committee Chair. "As we saw throughout the sessions at this conference, green, renewable and sustainable are three of the key topics of the future and this paper embodied all three, which is why it was awarded best paper."

 

The best university paper award went to Sun Yat-Sen of the University in China for "Photodecarboxylation in UV-Curable Waterborne Coatings."

 

"Water-compatible UV formulations are very important to green chemistry and sustainability," said Hladik. "This paper describes how water-compatible monomers may become water-resistant polymers by photodecarboxyilation."