CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — October 10, 2016 — Emerald Specialties Group, a business group of Emerald Performance Materials, has formed a team focused on digital applications, expanding its commercial and R&D staff for Hilton Davis® color and black dispersions to support growing demand in the key digital and ink jet segments. The company appointed Willis Reese as business director and added Jim Brock and Xiaoming Wu to the growing R&D team as dispersions R&D chemist and senior digital technologies chemist, respectively.

As business director, Reese will focus on the commercialization of Emerald’s newly patented line of Lucida Colors® self-dispersed pigment dispersions, including the development of markets and customers, and develop strategy for select technical dye and polymer technology in the digital marketplace. He is involved in several digital ink and printing technology associations, and his background in specialty materials includes a variety of business development and commercial roles with a focus on graphic arts and digital applications. Most recently, he held the position of chief digital officer with Premier Digital Ink, and he also held business leadership positions with Sakata INX, Hexion, Lubrizol and Sun Chemical. Reese earned a B.S. in printing management business administration from Murray State University, Murray, Ky.

“We have made significant investments recently in new technologies and increased capabilities at our site in Cincinnati including a pilot plant expansion in 2014.  We are adding people to the organization with the industry experience to drive our business development efforts and provide additional customer support,” said James Davis, vice president, Emerald Specialties Group. “As we continue to expand our ink jet product line and capabilities, both for North America and abroad, Willis’ background in leveraging opportunities, executing strategy and cultivating new business makes him an asset to our team.”

As dispersions R&D chemist, Brock will focus on the development of color and black dispersions, especially self-dispersed pigment dispersions for printing applications. He has nearly a decade of experience in ink jet formulation and R&D, including lab management, quality control and previous work with self-dispersed pigments. He joined Emerald from Collins Ink Corporation, where he most recently served as quality control lab manager and R&D chemist. He earned a B.S. in chemistry at Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Ky.

As senior digital technologies chemist, Wu will utilize his expertise to support the company’s R&D efforts to penetrate further into the digital printing market. Wu has more than 14 years of experience working in technical roles focused on graphic arts, polymers and materials science. In his most recent role at Lexmark International, he focused on projects directed toward development of materials for advanced ink jet technology, print-head assembly and electrophotographic printing. He also previously held roles with Promerus, Radiant Photonics, Brewer Science, the University of Minnesota and Northeastern University. He earned a Ph.D. in organic/polymer chemistry at the University of Nebraska and a B.S in polymer science and engineering from Tongji University, Shanghai.

“Jim and Xiaoming both have extensive backgrounds working with ink jet, which is a very technically sophisticated application. For example, inks for printing applications must be vibrant, highly stable, stand up to fading and be easy to use across a variety of applications. Preparation of self-dispersed pigments such as the Lucida Colors® line for inkjet printing is a special challenge requiring preparation of particles smaller than the wavelength of light, with precise chemical modification of their surfaces to yield stable inks,” said Greg Duncan, technical director, R&D for Emerald Specialties Group.

Duncan continued, “Their combined experience formulating innovative materials for graphic arts, troubleshooting common formulation challenges and streamlining processes will enable us to continue offering excellent value and performance through our product lines for ink jet, while also adapting to new market needs. This brings additional strength to an already strong technical team that our customers trust for expertise in graphic arts applications.

Wu and Brock joined an R&D group consisting of Jun Wang, R&D chemist, and Everett Merling, Senior R&D chemist, who were already working to leverage the new technology outlined in Emerald’s patent application WO/2013/044045. Wang began working on the project three years ago as a co-op student while completing his B.S. in chemical engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Merling, who joined Emerald in April, is a 2015 Ph.D. graduate in organic chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.

In addition to Lucida Colors self-dispersed pigment dispersions, Emerald Specialties’ expanded R&D team and facilities will help develop and produce an increased range of high-performance color and black dispersions for printing, paints, stains and other industrial applications.

Emerald Specialties produces dyes, lakes and dispersions under the Hilton Davis brand at the group’s facility in Cincinnati, which was recently SQF certified. The group’s full range of colorants are used in a broad spectrum of applications, such as food and beverage, coatings, graphic arts, plastics, paper, textiles, personal care, home care, pharmaceutical and industrial. The group’s colorant technology dates back more than a century to Robert Hilton’s 1914 patent on the breakthrough process of color flushing.

Posted October 11, 2016

Source: Emerald Specialties

PERSTOP, Sweden — October 11, 2016 — Perstorp, a provider of PVC plasticizers and other specialty chemicals, has been awarded ECO PASSPORT by OEKO-TEX® for its Pevalen™ (pentaerythritol tetravalerate or PETV) true non-phthalate plasticizer. This certifies that Pevalen can be used in sustainable textile production and verifies that using Pevalen in textiles has no harmful effects on human health or the environment.

“We are very proud to have received this important independent certification!” says Håkan Björnberg, Perstorp’s vice president of Innovation. “It confirms that Perstorp is on track with its ambitions to create safe and sustainable solutions.”

”Along with a continuously increasing demand for Pevalen because of its non-phthalate nature, we have also seen an increased demand for OEKO-TEX certification from the coated fabrics industry,” Björnberg notes. “This certificate assures customers requiring a high-performance non-phthalate plasticizer for their PVC coated textiles that Pevalen is the choice for them.” Perstorp is the first company to introduce PETV to the market.

Perstorp representatives will be discussing Pevalen — and other sustainable innovations for the plastics industry — at K 2016, on the stand of the company’s distribution partner Nordmann, Rassmann in Hall 8b (stand H29).

Posted October 11, 2016

Source: Perstorp

SARCEDO, Italy — October 11, 2016 — The new Core technology can be applied to Tonello washing and dyeing machines of various sizes and is capable of creating uniform or contrasting effects that bring out the full potential of a garment. It also lets you apply a broad range of products which it remarkably lowers the consumption of.

The process is rapid, completely automatic and programmable. It ensures top performance and takes place inside the machine, requiring no special preparation or tying.

Result of more than 10 years of experience with Tonello’s Kit Batik, Core is fully interfaced with the machine and can be implemented in any production cycle without interrupting the process.

Core also drastically reduces water use: for the first time, it makes it possible to create special dyeing with an extremely low environmental impact, with a 1:1 liquor ratio.

Core: advantages

• Savings of 50-80% on products and 96% on water;
• Reduced process times;
• Suitable for a wide range of products;
• Improved application performance;
• Versatility: the same machine can be used for every process.

Core can also apply high-performance products:

• Eco-softeners;
• Anti-stain, anti-stress and wrinkle free products;
• Anti-static and hydrophilic softeners;
• Resins for 3D whiskers/creases;
• Water and oil repellent products;
• Anti-UV and antibacterial products;
• Easy care and skin care products;
• Essences.

Posted October 11, 2016

Source: Tonello