"Environmentally friendly” can mean many different things. For Emerald Performance Materials—a mid-sized specialty chemicals company with four business groups, eight manufacturing operations and sales to more than 70 countries across the globe—it has meant making a concerted effort to reduce emissions and consider ways to improve the chemical composition and volatile organic compound (VOC) levels of products.

Graco Inc. recently announced its new InvisiPac™ Tank-Free™ hot-melt delivery system for case and carton sealing applications is available through distributors.

PPG Industries’ Protective and Marine Coatings (PMC) business recently received the 2013 Military Coatings Project Award of Excellence from The Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC) during the SSPC 2013 event held January 14-17 in San Antonio, Texas.

This company’s new 6B23 (3 x 3 ml) dual syringe can be used with a variety of low-cost static mixers for meter-mix and dispensing of plural component epoxies, urethanes, or 1:1 ratio compositions.

Road markings ensure traffic safety, but there are differences among them, both in terms of quality and eco-friendliness. Evonik Industries has conducted an independent lifecycle assessment (LCA) and found that DEGAROUTE-based road markings protect not only road users but also the climate.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nanometer-scale tubular structures consisting entirely of carbon atoms (see Figure 1). They represent a newly discovered elemental form of carbon and have remarkable properties in terms of mechanical strength, thermal conductance and electrical conductivity.

Almost two-thirds of adhesives produced each year in the U.S. are from non-renewable petroleum resources. However, each year brings added pressure to search for alternatives to petroleum-based adhesives, as oil prices rise and concerns over pollution released during the manufacture of these products grow.

Mussels can be a delicious meal, but the chemistry that lets mussels stick to underwater surfaces may also provide a highly adhesive wound closure and more effective healing from surgery.

Today’s hot-melt formulators face many challenges, including variations in the availability of raw material supply and the pressure to reduce formulation costs. High-efficiency polymers can help formulators by reducing formulation viscosity or increasing formulation flexibility, which allows for the exchange of resin or oil for polymers.

Acrylic polymers are widely used in pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) applications in the form of emulsion, solvent or radiation-cured systems. They combine good UV resistance, transparency, tailored tack, and stiffness due to a large choice of acrylic and methacrylic comonomers.