2024 PolyCon Wrap-up

This year’s Polyurethanes Technical Conference featured more than 850 attendees from across the value chain, 15 technical sessions, 16 posters, 43 exhibitors and 78 presentations. The keynote panel featured three speakers from Deloitte Consulting LLP – Bob Kumpf, Ph.D.; Maria Kipreos, Ph.D.; and Jim Eskew – who shared their insight on artificial intelligence (AI) by highlighting case studies, cutting-edge AI tools and technologies, the business impacts of AI, and more.

The Polyurethanes Technical Conference continues to look to the industry’s know-how and innovative spirit to explore significant developments in new technology. Increasingly, the opportunities – and challenges – of AI are beginning to be recognized across various industrial sectors. For example, within the polyurethanes industry, AI has the ability to accelerate research and development (R&D) processes by enabling predictive modeling and data analysis, enhance production efficiency, improve supply chain management, contribute to sustainability efforts, and assist with environmental, health, and safety (EH&S) needs. Insights into AI adoption are essential for helping drive the polyurethanes industry forward and unlocking solutions to some of today’s greatest challenges.

CPI Celebrates Polyurethane Trailblazers with Top Industry Awards

Polyurethane Innovation Award

Woodbridge Announced as Winner of Prestigious 2024 Polyurethane Innovation Award

The competition for the 2024 Polyurethane Innovation Award highlighted the latest innovations and technologies within the industry over the past two years. Each finalist presented at the opening session, and the finalists’ presentations were scored by an expert technical panel and voted on by conference attendees.

The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) is proud of our industry’s continued leadership in innovative solutions and advances in technology. The Polyurethane Innovation Award showcases the role that innovation plays in the polyurethanes industry and recognizes companies and individuals whose vision and perseverance bring new products, technologies, and initiatives to the marketplace.

“We are pleased that Woodbridge has been honored with the prestigious CPI Award," said Mike Irwin, VP, Advanced Product & Chemical Technology at Woodbridge. "Our scientists have developed a proprietary process to seamlessly integrate biogenic carbon (biocarbon) into our top-of-the-line polyurethane seating foam chemistry."

Distinguished Leadership Award

Lisa Massaro-Kustuch of DuPont Announced as Recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Leadership Award

CPI established the Distinguished Leadership Award to recognize individuals who have provided outstanding leadership and advanced the goals of CPI as well as the interests of the industry.

Lisa Massaro-Kustuch's experience in the polyurethanes industry goes back more than a decade, and she currently serves as Global Advocacy & Product Stewardship Manager at DuPont supporting the DuPont Performance Building Solutions business.

Lisa’s numerous contributions to CPI include a prominent role in CPI’s ongoing discussions with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) regarding the Safer Consumer Products regulation of spray foam. Since 2020, she’s served as Chair of CPI’s Blowing Agents Workgroup and played a critical part in the establishment of a Code of Practice for Low-Pressure Two-Component Spray Polyurethane Foam Products adopted by Canadian authorities in 2020. Her work has been recognized with the “Best Paper” award three times at previous Polyurethanes Technical Conferences.

Polyurethane Innovation Award Finalists

Huntsman: SMARTLITE^® O LTPU is a novel liquid TPU for footwear midsoles. Setting new circularity and performance standards, this innovative system enables the creation of low density, high comfort, hydrolysis resistant midsoles, with excellent rebound properties. Fully customizable, SMARTLITE^® O LTPU is easy to process, on low pressure standard equipment. Bio-based versions of the product are also available.

Incorez: Aldirez^® A is an innovative aldimine latent curing agent designed to address challenges encountered in moisture-cured PU and polyaspartic coatings. Reacting with water before the isocyanate, it prevents the production of CO2. The intermediate produced in this reaction then goes on to speed up the Isocyanate and polyol reaction offering significant advantages such as faster cure times whilst maintaining a workable pot-life, superior aesthetics and the ability to apply PU coatings in problematic atmospheric conditions including high humidity and extremely low temperatures.

Woodbridge: TrimVisible™ BIO combines biogenic carbon from forest residue with high-performance polyurethane seating foam chemistry. This exclusive technology reduces automotive seating foam’s overall global warming potential (GWP) by displacing traditional urethane chemical components. This technology is available in automotive seating, ensuring that performance and comfort are not compromised.

2024 Paper & Poster Winners

Each year, CPI recognizes the best technical paper presentations and posters presented at the conference. This year, 12 technical papers and 5 posters were selected by our judges as the best of their session or category.

Best Paper Winners

Automotive: Sustainability & E-Mobility – Ali Zolali of BASF Corporation for Advancing E-Mobility: Innovations in Polyurethane Systems for Lightweight, Secure, and Tailored Battery Enclosures

Automotive: Sustainability & VOCs – Tie between:

Audrey Kathleen Polyto Silva Russp of Purcom Quimica Ltda. for Usage of Bio Based Polyols in the Manufacture of Truck Floor Mats
and
Enoch Kofi Acquah of Michigan State University for Lignin-Soy Based Flexible Polyurethane Foams for Automotive Application

CASE – Dylan Thomas of COIM USA Inc. for Water-Based Polyester Polyol Dispersion for VOC-Compliant, Ambient-Cure Polyurethane Floor Coatings: Testing New Starting Point Formulations and Real-World Application Demonstrations

Chemistry – Stephen Cavender of Patcham USA for Tertiary Amine-free and Tin-free Catalysts for Lower Density Polyurethanes

Circular Economy & Digitalization – Volker Schadler of BASF Polyurethanes GmbH for Tackling the Circularity Challenge of Polyurethanes via Multiple Pathways

Circular Economy: Recycling – Divya Iyer of University of California, Los Angeles for Designing Robust High-Strength Composites with Polyurethane Foam Glycolysis Products

Construction – Richard Wood of Wood Industrial Health Associates, LLC for Estimating Reentry and Re-occupancy Times Following Application of Two Generic Spray Polyurethane Foam Formulations According to ASTM Standard Practice D8445-22

Flexible Foam – Vijay Nadgir of Monument Chemical for Effect of Humidity on the Measurement of Glass Transition Temperature of Visco-Elastic Foams

Renewable Polyols – Mojgan Nejad of Michigan State University for Sustainable Polyurethanes: Harnessing Lignin as Natural Polyol

Rigid Foam – Shiwanka Wanasinghe of Oak Ridge National Laboratory for Opacification of PIR Foams to Enhance Thermal Resistivity

Sustainability – Han Dong, Maysta Chemical for Non-Food Origin Bio-Based Silicone Surfactants for Polyurethane Applications

Best Poster Winners

CASE – Shun Okura of Kuraray Co., Ltd. for Adhesive Properties of PUD Made with 3-Methy-1,5-Pentanediol and Dicarboxylic Acid with Aromatic Rings

Chemistry – Nurul Amin of Texas Tech University for An Alternative Route to Sustainable Carbamate Synthesis: Reductive Carbonylation of Nitro-Aromatics with Palladium Catalysts and Bis-Phosphine Ligands

Processing Innovations – Erland Hofmann of Format Messtechnik GmbH for Recovery and Relaxation Measurement of Very Soft Viscoelastic Foams

Rigid Foam – Zoriana Demchuk of Oak Ridge National Laboratory for Opacification of PIR Foams to Enhance Thermal Resistivity

Sustainability – Manasseh Agbeda of Michigan State University for Lignin-Based Polyurethane Adhesive for Mass Timber Applications

2023 End-Use Market Survey

The 2023 End-Use Market Survey on the Polyurethanes Industry in the United States, Canada and Mexico was produced by independent third-party IAL Consultants and presented at the awards luncheon. The report is available for purchase in the ACC Store, with a 50% discount available for CPI Members.

Thank you to everyone who help made the 2024 Polyurethanes Technical Conference a success!
The 2025 Polyurethanes Technical Conference will be October 6-8, 2025, in St. Louis, MO.