There is currently much discussion about the use of raw materials containing PFAS in coating systems and their possible alternatives. Byk has now made a decision: no more PFAS-containing materials in its product portfolio until the end of 2025. We talked to Dr Stefan Mößmer, Managing Director of Byk Marketing & Commercial. Interview by Dr Katrin Vogt.
You are taking a big step by switching to a PFAS-free product portfolio by the end of 2025. What were your reasons for going completely PFAS-free?
Dr Stefan Mößmer: This contributes to our overarching sustainability strategy of proactively replacing harmful chemicals with more environmentally friendly and ideally renewable product technologies. We at Byk are aware of our obligation to offer a large proportion of our new developments with sustainable additives in the future. With a clear cut, which we communicate transparently and at an early stage, we not only show that we are innovation leaders, but also want to make it easy for our customers to phase out PFAS-containing products in good time by offering differentiated alternatives and showing new, sustainable and more environmentally friendly ways of formulating them.
The requirements for alternative materials are high. What are your current challenges in developing these alternatives?
Mößmer: Our broad technology platform in our Research & Development division allows us to develop more environmentally friendly additives with alternative, fluorine-free building blocks and offer them to our customers, which achieve a similar spectrum of effectiveness in many applications. Our end-use colleagues are working closely with our customers on PFAS-free, future-orientated formulations. We benefit from the fact that Byk prioritised considerable research efforts early on to replace perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl-containing products with more environmentally friendly alternatives.
Are you interested in this topic, want to find out more and exchange ideas? Then join us at the EC Conference Understanding PFAS and Reformulating PFAS-free Coatings on 18 – 19 Nov 2024 in Cologne, Germany.
How do you see the future of PFAS materials? Will the coatings industry be able to completely dispense with PFAS in the near future?
Mößmer: I believe that the coatings world will switch completely to PFAS-free materials in the not too distant future. We at Byk are actively accompanying this process and supporting the switch to alternative, effective and therefore (more) sustainable product solutions. As with many developments and trends, our partners participate by switching their formulations at an early stage. In addition, adapted PFAS-free products and in some cases new developments are not only more ecological, but also more effective alternatives.