Market Innovation Stories
Wood is “In” Again
Wood has long been a material of choice for building and construction due to its beauty, strength, carbon sequestration and renewable attributes. For more than 80 years, Hexion has provided the enabling resin technology for engineered wood products that makes it possible to use up to 99 percent of plantation grown timber.
Residential buildings have long used engineered wood, but the future is now with multi-story office and residential structures being constructed out of wood. Hexion’s versatile adhesives for the high-volume manufacture of glue laminated beams (glulam) and cross-laminated timber (CLT) can be found in some of the biggest projects on the market. This market will continue to grow and provide another way to reduce embodied carbon in building and construction and support the future of circularity with performance and waste utilization.
In 2019 Hexion announced that its versatile EcoBind™ adhesives for structural engineered wood products completed all independent laboratory testing required by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and was certified for the high-volume manufacture of glulam and CLT. This newly certified adhesive system improves the utilization of adhesive and can reduce waste by 80 to 90 percent, which can result in cost savings and a lower impact on our environment.
Waterborne Technology and Carbon Footprint ties Climate Change Impact
The use and manufacture of waterborne resins provides sustainability benefits to Hexion and throughout the value chain. By manufacturing lower volatile organic compound (VOC) products, Hexion reduces hazardous waste output and air emissions providing an overall reduction in global warming potential. Hexion's continued development of new waterborne resin technology demonstrates our commitment to more sustainable product offerings that reduce VOCs, regulatory burden, and potential for exposure to more hazardous substances, all while maintaining or improving performance.
By selecting Hexion's waterborne epoxy resin systems our customers lower the risk of fire by eliminating the flammable solvents used in solvent-based coatings. Waterborne systems also improve the working environment for employees with decreased odor, easier and safer clean-up, and lower emissions. They also decrease the users' regulatory burden by using a more sustainable resin and curing agent system and reducing the solvent content of finished coatings.
Although higher performance waterborne epoxy technology has been around for years, early generations had higher levels of volatile co-solvent and the resulting coating formulations contained VOC levels of 150 – 250g/L. One of Hexion’s long- term customers became an early adopter of the waterborne epoxy system. A few years ago, this same customer asked Hexion to help them meet the stricter regulatory level of less than <50 g/L VOC. By working together, we developed a new waterborne epoxy system that allowed our customer to achieve significantly less than 50 g/L VOC with improved performance compared to the earlier material.
Fire Suppression Technology Positively Affecting Climate Change
In 2019, Hexion further enhanced and developed its fire suppression products. Our wide range of technologies and chemistries protect millions of people each day from fire whether it be in the buildings they live in or the modes of transportation they use.
Whether it is building materials that suppress fire or mass transit and aerospace composites that produce potentially less toxic smoke when burned, Hexion continues to develop new products to protect life, property, and valuable infrastructure.
