Rohm and Haas Co. helped sponsor the “Sustainable Chemistry, Innovative and Competitive Companies conference held in Barcelona, Spain, February 21-22, 2008. During the conference, Dr. Andrew Trapani, technical leader of the Rohm and Haas Laboratories in Valbonne, France, and Dr. Houshang Kheradmand, manager for product stewardship and sustainable development at that site, presented a paper titled, “Innovation and Management Methodology for a Sustainable Paint and Coatings Market.”

Rohm and Haas Co. helped sponsor the “Sustainable Chemistry, Innovative and Competitive Companies conference held in Barcelona, Spain, February 21-22, 2008. During the conference, Dr. Andrew Trapani, technical leader of the Rohm and Haas Laboratories in Valbonne, France, and Dr. Houshang Kheradmand, manager for product stewardship and sustainable development at that site, presented a paper titled, “Innovation and Management Methodology for a Sustainable Paint and Coatings Market.” The presentation focused on methodologies for coatings products that integrate sustainable development criteria across the product life cycle, from conception to the recycling and waste management phase. The resulting metrics allow a quantification of an individual product’s overall eco-impact or carbon footprint, encompassing six key aspects: VOC emissions, energy reduction, raw material reduction, renewable raw material utilization, toxicity and cost.

“The sustainable development approach is a holistic, cross-disciplinary approach, necessarily involving functions across the organization. It covers the whole supply chain, and allows for the mapping of the carbon footprint of individual products, as well as for the identification of financial, operational and carbon-saving opportunities,” said Dr. Kheradmand.

Rohm and Haas shared examples of its technologies that allow paint formulators to create innovative products that combine high performance with an optimized eco-design, including its Ropaque™ opacifying binder, which reduces emissions of gaseous pollutants; its Avanse™ pure acrylic binder technology, which decreases CO2 emissions in waterborne paint; and its Fastrack waterborne binder for traffic paints, which provides almost a 50% decrease in CO2 emissions compared to existing solvent-based technologies.

The company also highlighted its recently signed partnership with The Natural Step International, one of the world’s leading NGOs devoted to helping companies create systemic, science-based approaches for becoming more sustainable. For more information about Rohm and Haas, visit www.rohmhaas.com.