Muttenz, March 20, 2019 – Clariant, a focused and innovative specialty chemical company, today announced more support for coatings to make their mark in the sustainable transformation of all kinds of land, sea and air transport – from personal mobility to passenger and commercial transportation, ships, and agricultural, construction and earthmoving (ACE) machinery.

As the trends influencing how people and goods are moved evolve at an unprecedented fast pace, Clariant is spearheading innovation to bring coatings manufacturers closer to efficiently delivering more environmentally-compatible, safer products that achieve high-level aesthetics.

At European Coatings Show 2019, Clariant launches the first bio-based version of iconic Pigment Red 254 - the automotive’s industry most widely-used red pigment for exterior coatings. Clariant is the only pigment producer to offer high-performance Diketopyrrolo Pyrrole (DPP) pigments, such as Pigment Red 254 and other red, pink and violet shades, based on renewable raw materials. It is pioneering the use of succinic acid derived from renewable resources rather than from crude oil for manufacturing all of its DPP reds.

DPP pigments are valued for automotive because of their high strength of color and durability. Bold colors like red however stretch beyond the domain of cars in urban transport. Buses often favor stand-out shades of red, bright green or intense yellow. Strong blues are a frequent choice for trains because of the association with serenity and dirt-hiding abilities, however vibrant colors are gaining interest, as on India Railway’s semi-high speed trains, for example1.

Clariant extends its sustainability support here as well. It introduces an innovative opportunity to mass manufacture high-volume paints for color branding modes of tranport and machinery applications more efficiently, and with less energy-use, through highly-efficient, brilliant co-dispersing organic pigments. Renewable DPP pigments are found in this range too.

Think of combine harvesters and tractors, and there is a good chance the color green springs to mind. Coatings producer Gross & Perthun takes advantage of Clariant’s pigments for co-dispersing to improve the eco-efficiency of mass producing its high volume, highly brilliant color shades. The pigments do not contain lead in their molecular formula, bringing a further boost for the environment.

“For the production of high volume mass colors co-dispersing is an attractive and economic alternative to color mixing systems which require considerably more effort. We are significantly saving production time, and also use markedly fewer raw materials and less energy,” says Rainer Wadenpohl, Head of Laboratory at Gross & Perthun.

Co-dispersing in a bead mill already delivers an economic advantage for high volume shades. However Clariant also offers next-generation pigments for co-dispersing that take the savings a step further. They are so easy to disperse that even in co-dispersing operations the bead milling process can be potentially faster, more efficient and more reliable. The opportunities to save are therefore even bigger.

Moving from bold colors, to bold luxury for aircraft and marine interiors. Wood, with its natural, visually-stunning appeal is a popular choice for adding a sophisticated touch to the interiors of small jets, cruise liners and yachts. Non-halogenated Exolit® 855 offers the opportunity to create truly transparent fire-resistant - and in combination with a transparent top coat also water-resistant intumescent coatings for all kinds of wood types, which allow the character of light and dark wood to shine through. It is completely clear and easy to formulate and apply. Exolit 855 meets IMO/SOLAS FTP Code part 5 and 2 requirements for cruise liner and yachting interiors, and the FAR 25.853 Appendix F standard for interior compartment components of airplanes.

Click on the relevant product links to access detailed information on the technical performance of Clariant’s new DPP Pigments, Co-dispersing Pigments and flame retardant Exolit 855.

Check out a video of Exolit 855 here