Washington -- The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) announced that Romeo RIM, Inc., TSE Industries, Inc. and INVISTA are finalists for the 2013 Polyurethane Innovation Award.
Attendees at the 2013 Polyurethanes Technical Conference, 23 to 25 September, Phoenix, Arizona, will be able to vote for one of these finalists during the conference's opening session on 23 September. The winner will be announced during the closing session on 25 September.
"The vision and forward thinking of each of these finalists truly made them stand out," said CPI Senior Director Lee Salamone. "Their achievements have helped advance the chemistry of polyurethanes and pioneer applications for polyurethane products, and demonstrate just how much our industry is thriving. "
The finalists are:
•, Inc. for its class A, in-mould decorated long fibre injection system.
"Long fibre injection (LFI) is a material system that combines structural foam polyurethane with long glass strands to create a light weight structural part. Due to the glass concentration, class A surface finishes were not feasible in the past. After three years of development, Romeo RIM has commercialized a class A LFI system that is decorated in-mould," said Romeo RIM, Inc.
•, Inc. for its new polyurethane thermoset resin for filament winding applications.
"TSE Industries Inc., Clearwater Fla., USA, has pioneered the development of a new, high performance polyurethane resin system for filament winding applications, like pipes and piping systems, tanks and pressure vessels," said TSE Industries, Inc.
• for its new Terate HT polyols.
"Terate HT polyols from INVISTA are a new line of aromatic polyester polyols based on an innovative chemistry platform for use in polyurethane applications. Designed at a molecular level, Terate HT polyols offer performance advances while retaining many of the benefits of INVISTA's traditional Terate polyols such as high foam compressive strengths, high weight and volume retention in fire and smoke testing," said INVISTA.
The finalists were chosen by a panel of judges drawn from technical disciplines and the polyurethane supply chain. They evaluated and scored entries based on impact on the polyurethanes industry, originality, quality of the science and societal impact. The three submissions with the highest scores were selected as finalists to be considered for the 2013 Polyurethane Innovation Award. Each finalist will prepare a poster describing the innovation which will be on display at the conference.
Each finalist will share a three-minute presentation detailing the originality and impact of the innovation, along with the benefits it will bring to the industry and society in the opening session at the SPI meeting .
Individual conference registrants at the opening session may cast one vote for one finalist. The finalist with the most votes from the audience will receive an additional 20 points to be added to the score from the judges. The innovation with the highest total score will be deemed the winner and announced on Wednesday, Sept. 25, during the closing session of the 2013 Polyurethanes Technical Conference.
All entries for the 2013 award were required to represent new innovations that have not been previously submitted for the Innovation Award and had not been available for commercial sales longer than 15 months prior to June 18, 2013
