Coatings World - December 2008 Buyers Guide

Fresh Paint

investing in growth opportunities,” said Leif Darner, AkzoNobel’s board member responsible for performance coatings. “We are already a major supplier to the oil and gas sector and this transaction will expand our capabilities in an important global market.”

“Enviroline has an enviable track record of providing high performance coatings solutions, mainly to customers in the oil and gas markets in North America,” added Bill McPherson, general manager of AkzoNobel’s marine and protective coatings business. “We have long recognized the need to fully service these markets. The Enviroline product range is therefore a welcome addition which will both complement and extend our International Paint global portfolio of products for the protection of assets in aggressive environments.”

As well as supplying leading brands for specialist tank linings for chemical storage vessels, Enviroline also provides corrosion control for steel and concrete structures. One of their most recent product launches was a thin-film VOC compliant fast cure epoxy coating for the oil and gas and chemical processing industries.

DUPONT OPENS
OFFICE IN ABU DHABI

DuPont has opened its second office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), focusing specifically on strengthening the company’s relationships with the oil and gas industry. Additional markets include building and construction, automotive coatings, agriculture and food.

This investment adds to the presence the company has built in the region including long established offices in Istanbul, Turkey; Cairo, Egypt; Karachi, Pakistan; Dammam and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; and an additional office in Dubai, UAE. The

first office, in Istanbul, opened in 1992
and remains the hub for DuPont in the
region.

“The Middle East is one of the fastest growing markets for DuPont today,” said Ian Hudson, president, DuPont Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA). “DuPont sales in the UAE have increased more than 50% since this time last year. In the area of oil and gas alone, we have grown 20% annually over the past five years. DuPont has a number of innovations that are critical to meeting customer needs in the region. This new office will help us leverage our technology and strengthen our market presence.”

EMEA, and in particular, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, contain most of the oil- and gas-producing assets and more than 70% of known reserves in the world. Exploration in remote and technically challenging areas has increased. DuPont sells products totaling more than $30 million into this industry in EMEA alone and estimates that the total opportunity for DuPont in the region exceeds $1 billion.

DÜRR AND HENKEL COOPERATE
ON DIP COATING TECHNOLOGY

Henkel and Dürr have joined together to further develop Henkel’s patented Aquence technology, an autophoretic dip coating process that needs no heavy metals whatever and thus reduces impact on the environment.

The two companies will begin their cooperation in the non-automotive field, where Henkel has already introduced the Aquence process. Dürr’s PSI (Paint Systems Industrial) product line and Henkel will coordinate their efforts to realize optimization potential not only in the chemical process but also in plant and equipment technology and in streamlining the process. Aquence technology replaces the combination of pretreatment and electro-

dipping with a single stage process.

Aquence utilizes an auto deposition process that generates corrosion protection coatings of variable film thick-nesses. Autophoretic deposition occurs, without the need to electrically charge the parts, out of an aqueous organic emulsion directly onto degreased material surfaces. No special form of pretreatment of the parts, such as phosphate or chromate coating, is necessary. When applied, the Aquence process generates coating of surfaces containing iron only while plastic materials remain uncoated. This makes it possible not only to coat complex structures evenly, both internally and externally, but also complete assemblies of parts made of different materials.

The Aquence process is also environmentally friendly, free of heavy metals and emits virtually no volatile organic compounds (VOCs). With Aquence waste is reduced considerably and reduced energy consumption is also a positive aspect of the new technology. It replaces the classic elec-tro-dipping process, which works with electrical charging, with a non-electri-cal process. Additionally, Aquence helps to lower the cost of painting by reducing the number of process stages and streamlining the process.

QIOPTIQ GROUP COMPLETES
SALE OF COATINGS BUSINESS

Qioptiq, an international designer and manufacturer of optical solutions, has completed the sale of its Plymouth, UK-based coatings business. In a management buyout, the team, led by Ian Moyes, has agreed to purchase the business from Qioptiq SAS for an undisclosed amount.

The new company, to be called Artemis Optical Ltd will continue to provide advanced optical coatings at the Plymouth facility. Qioptiq CEO, Benoit Bazire commenting on the completion said, “We are pleased to have