OCCA Weekly Webinar - Valida: Natural cellulose as a source of inspiration in waterborne coatings
Venue: Webinar
Date: Wednesday 2nd March 2022
Time: 14:30 – 15:30
Our Series 6 of OCCA Weekly Webinars continues with "Valida: Natural cellulose as a source of inspiration in waterborne coatings" presented by Gabriel Ferrante of Sappi Valida. The webinar will take place via Zoom on Wednesday 2 March at 2:30pm.
This webinar is free to attend, simply register below and you'll receive further details & joining instructions in due course.
Abstract:
Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth and the main component of all plants. It makes sense to harness this resource and unlock its potential as a biomaterial. One development centered around this is Valida.
Valida is fibrillated cellulose manufactured by Sappi, a 100% natural, biodegradable and sustainable material produced by mechanically processing wood derived cellulose fibres down to their smallest components, resulting in innovative material properties.
These properties include excellent stabilizing potential, rheology modification and robustness. Valida’s unique rheology profile - high viscosity at rest and highly shear thinning - make it a suitable material for many applications, including waterborne Paints and Coatings systems.
In Paints and Coatings, fibrillated cellulose acts as multifunctional stabiliser mimicking synthetic solutions while improving the sustainability, reducing VOC content and carbon footprint.
At the same time, Valida effectively improves the rheology of wet paint and provides reinforcement to the dry paint.
The high viscosity at rest results in stable formulations, better in-can stability and pigments’s stabilisation, and, ultimately, in reduced/solved syneresis.
Furthermore, the thixotropic nature significantly enhances the anti-sagging of the applied layer, preventing dripping.
In the dry paint, Valida solves the mud-cracking issue, provides better resistance to household chemicals and improves the contrast ratio/hiding power, complementing the TiO2 and boosting its opacity performances.
Sappi: Sappi is a global diversified woodfibre group focused on dissolving pulp, paper-based solutions and high quality functional biomaterials. Manufacturing operations can be found on 3 continents with sales in over 150 countries. We are using our global leadership position and significant investment in Research and Development in coated graphics papers, speciality packaging grades, dissolving pulp and biorefinery processes, to respond to the growing global demand for high quality functional biomaterials.
Speaker Profile - Gabriel Ferrante - Technical Sales Manager for Sappi Valida
Gabriel Ferrante is Technical Sales Manager for Sappi Valida. He is responsible for the global market development of Sappi’s Fibrillated Cellulose – branded as Valida – in industrial applications, including Coating, Constructions, Adhesives and more.
Gabriel is a chemical engineer and has a master’s degree in in Rheology Engineering.
Gabriel began his career as Patent reclassification analyst at E.P.O. (European patent office). Prior to join Sappi in his current role, Gabriel worked in a distribution company as Technical Support and Market developer for specialty chemicals with a focus on industrial applications.
