Indorama Ventures, owner of the Oxiteno brand, will participate in the Waterborne Symposium, a technical forum on water-based paint technologies that takes place between Feb. 12 and 17, in New Orleans, LA, USA. On Feb. 15, a researcher from the company, Juliane Pereira, will conduct a plenary session on “Sustainability Guiding New Developments in the Coating Industry.” Bruno Dario, another researcher from the company, will give a talk on “Optimizing Pigment Dispersions – Study of Surfactant Tail Variations,” on Feb. 17.

The event, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, held by the School of Polymers and Engineering at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), will be attended by professionals in the chemical and paint field. The income from the event is used by USM for the development of its academic program, assisting undergraduate students specializing in polymers with scholarships.

“During my presentation, I will cover some studies in which sustainability was a key factor for the development of solutions with great technical and environmental performance, which is an issue of extreme importance to the sector. I am very excited to participate in this event, representing the company in new environments and businesses,” said Pereira.

Dario’s talk will address the development of surfactant molecules for use as a carbon black pigment dispersant. “It will be a great pleasure to represent Indorama Ventures at the Waterborne Symposium, a reference event for the development of the sector,” said Dario.

In a schedule taking in approximately 40 talks over six days, the International Waterborne, High-Solids, and Powder Coating Symposium brings together about 350 participants annually, including paint formulators, R&D scientists, small business owners, end users, academics, and chemistry/polymer/coating students, among others.