PDA Europe News
June 2009
PDA Europe and Deutsche Bauchemie finalize Status Report about Polyurea Application
A joint working group between PDA Europe and Deutsche Bauchemie e.V. (German Association of Construction Chemicals Manufacturers) now finalized the first status report about polyurea application in the European construction industry. Though a focus was put on the situation in Germany the report covers European construction aspects as well and provides an unprecedented overview of all facets related to the application of this emerging technology.
The Polyurea Development Association Europe (PDA Europe) is the official trade association for the European Polyurea industry. The association was founded in 2007 and registered as an official, international not-for-profit association under Belgian law. The mission of the PDA Europe is to promote market awareness, understanding and acceptance of polyurea technology through the development of education programs, product standards, safety and environmental and use recommendations. The association provides technology training courses, spray application courses and access to several useful tools like EHS guidance. Guidelines and specifications written for the use of polyurea and shared info on case studies are also available.
Practical organization of these activities, are handled by committees. One of those committees is the Industry Relations Committee which develops and implements strategies and programs for advancing the awareness and acceptance of the association and polyurea technology e.g. in cooperation with other industry associations. Initiated by the committee’s chairman Werner Bertleff, BASF SE, the joint working group "Polyurea in der Bauwirtschaft" was set up under the roof of Deutsche Bauchemie e.V. Deutsche Bauchemie is the leading industry association of manufacturers of construction chemicals in Europe and has got long-standing experience with technical, regulatory, safety and environmental aspects in the construction industry. Leading members of both PDA Europe and Deutsche Bauchemie are contributing to this working group: BASF SE, BASF Construction Chemicals, Bayer Material Science, Clariant, Dow, Huntsman, MC Bauchemie, Sika.
The group, chaired by Dr. Michael Hiller, BASF Construction Chemicals, analysed the actual situation of polyurea applications in Europe but also kept an eye on the global situation as many polyurea applications are quite established in other parts of the world ahead of Europe . As a first result the working group now issued a status report highlighting the present situation of polyurea use in the European construction industry on 27 pages. The report provides information about the history of polyurea as well as definitions and differentiations from the related polyurethane technology. The most comprehensive part of the report deals with the many application areas of polyurea. Though in some areas polyurea use is more widespread outside Europe especially in the US and increasingly in Asia there are many examples in Europe as well. The emerging character of this technology leads to the fact that in some cases the report rather shows the future potential than noteworthy actual use. This is partly due to the dense European regulatory systems where the young technology normally is not expressly incorporated. However, along with informations about relevant German and European regulations given the report comes to the conclusion that polyurea as a liquid plastic material like other established liquid systems is definitely covered by most of the European performance-oriented regulations. Various chapters of the report deal with manufacturing, formulation and especially important with processing of polyurea systems. The raw materials are discussed under aspects of human safety and environmental behaviour. Last but not least references are made to safe transportation, recycling and disposal. As a start the report will be available in German as of July, the English version will follow shortly after.