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Best Product Innovation category - sponsored by CRA
The Best Product Innovation category gives entrants a chance to show how innovative they are in the more traditional but still vital areas of product and process deveopment. It is this, after all, that brings in new business and/or makes existing products more attractive and competitive.
The winner in this category (and the Overall Winner) in 2011 was:
Teijin
Toshio Ishihara
World’s first mass production technologies for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP)
With automotive exhaust regulations becoming increasingly strict, there is a mounting need to reduce vehicle weight by using materials such as CFRP. Japanese fiber and chemicals producer Teijin, the world’s second-largest producer of carbon fiber, has developed the world’s first mass-production technologies for CFRP. This allows a significant reduction of the time required for molding an ¬automobile body structure to less than one minute. Teijin’s new technologies include intermediate materials made of thermoplastic resin instead of thermosets for molding-use CFRP and methods to weld CFRP parts together and bond CFRP with other materials such as steel.
Read more details here
The shortlisted entries in this category were:
Sud-Chemie
Steve Blankenship, Mike Urbancic, Mingyong Sun, Phil Stevens, Denise Cooper
OleMax 207 selective hydrogenation catalyst
German catalysts and adsorbents specialist Sud-Chemie (now part of Clariant) has been adding value to the ethylene industry for more than 50 years, and selective hydrogenation is one of its core competences. Its OleMax 207 catalyst adds even more value, due to its higher selectivity – the benefit is estimated at $1.4m/year (€1.0m/year) for a typical, mid-sized ethylene plant. Development took seven years, and the first charge of OleMax 207 has been operating since 2007. Customers are reporting unprecedented cycle lengths and an average of 35% improvement in ethylene selectivity.
Dentsply International
Xiaoming Jin, Qizhou Dai and Nikki Sparacino
Surefil SDR Flow simplifies tooth restorative procedures
US-based dental specialist Dentsply has created a composite material for permanent and aesthetic restoration of tooth structure after removal of caries. SureFil SDR Flow fills the majority of the cavity with one large placement of a flowable material. It has self-leveling and adaptation properties, which allow equivalent placement characteristics for both upper and lower tooth restoration. The key innovation is a new low-stress resin chemistry which allows 4mm of SureFil SDR Flow to be placed in one bulk insertion, due to the 60% reduction of stress, compared with conventional fillers.
Styron Emulsion Polymers
Dieter Bellgardt
Improving fuel efficiency where the rubber meets the road
Tires are obliged to meet stringent safety requirements and provide precision and control in varying weather and surface conditions. At the same time, they are expected to offer a smooth and quiet ride, and to increase fuel savings through a low rolling resistance. US-based styrenics and elastomers producer Styron’s second-generation functionalized solution styrene butadiene rubber (S-SBR), Sprintan SLR 4602 helps achieve an optimum performance balance. Sprintan SLR 4602 contributes to advancements in low rolling resistance tires which, in addition to powertrain improvements, helps to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
The winner in this category in 2010 was:
Tata Chemicals
Ramakrishnan Mukundan
Tata Swach nanotech water purifier
Mumbai, India-based Tata Chemicals has designed a novel purifier for home drinking water which uses a combination of natural materials - silicaceous material derived from rice husks - and cutting-edge nanotechnology in the form of minute particles of silver. The Tata Swach delivers safe drinking water at very low cost and has a safety cut-off so that when the purifying capacity of the filter cartridge is exhausted - typically after 3000 litres - the water flow is automatically stopped. At the heart of the invention is Tata’s patented TSRF technology which has been proven to kill water-borne organisms that cause diseases.
Read more details here
The winner in this category in 2009 was:
Arkema/CECA
Gilles Barreto
Formulations for “greener roads”
Surfactant formulations developed by the CECA subsidiary of France’s Arkema reduce energy consumption during road construction and improve working conditions and environmental impact in terms of emissions of dust, volatile organic compounds and nitrous oxides. They achieve this through control of the bitumen/aggregate interface structure in the asphalt, allowing it to be laid on the road at much lower temperatures. Other important properties and the productivity of the construction process are retained or improved, and the amount of recycled asphalt in the mix can be increased.
Read more details here
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