MUNICH/AMSTERDAM — WACKER plans to collaborate with Dynaplak, the Dutch manufacturer of bio-based raw materials for agricultural and industrial applications. Together, the two companies want to develop hybrid binders based on starch and polymers. The first products for interior wall paints are scheduled for market launch in the first quarter of 2019. WACKER is responding to the growing demand for sustainable binders in the paint and coatings industry.

“Our partnership with Dynaplak lays the foundations for increasing our contribution to more sustainability in the binders market. We will be one of the first chemical companies to expand our portfolio with products based partially on renewable raw materials,” explained Dominique Nely, who manages WACKER's binders for consumer goods and industrial applications in western Europe. “In the first phase, we will focus on interior paints — where demand for ecological alternatives to petroleum-based binders is growing strongly.”

Dynaplak’s bio-based technology together with WACKER’s decades of experience in manufacturing polymer-based binders will result in hybrid starch and polymer-based binders. The starch is a side-stream product from potato processing.

Koos Slor, Managing Director of Dynaplak, said, “In our production process, we utilize starch that would otherwise be lost. Our innovative technology increases the functionality of conventional starch, enhancing its performance.” In an emulsified form, starch reveals its properties and helps to tie together components of a paint, such as pigments and fillers. “By partnering with WACKER, our sustainable products will also be available to customers from the paints and coatings industry,” Slor said.

In technical terms, hybrid binders meet the high-quality standards for WACKER products. “We want to act in an ecologically responsible way, while continuing to offer our customers outstanding product quality,” explained Nely. The new binders will be manufactured at the Dynaplak site in Veendam in the Netherlands and are part of WACKER's new VINNECO^® line. It will present the first products from this line at the European Coatings Show 2019.