Evonik’s Bio-Based Surfactants TEGO® Wet570 Terra and TEGO® Wet580 Terra Lead the Green Revolution in the Coatings and Inks Industry!

Evonik Coatings Additives introduces innovative biosurfactants, TEGO® Wet570 Terra and TEGO® Wet580 Terra, tailored for coatings and ink formulations. Combining high performance with excellent sustainability, these two products are designed to revolutionize the coatings and ink industry.

TEGO® Wet570 Terra and TEGO® Wet580 Terra are produced using a microbial fermentation process and are entirely derived from natural resources, in contrast to traditional fossil-based surfactants. Not only are they extremely low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), but due to their natural sources, they are easily biodegradable and show good tolerance to aquatic organisms. Both products are specially designed for water-based coatings and inks.

"TEGO® Wet570 Terra and TEGO® Wet580 Terra provide our customers with innovative, high-performance solutions while contributing to the green transformation of the coatings and ink industry," said Elias Lacerda, Head of the Coatings Additives business at Evonk.

These products quickly moisten pigments and fillers, significantly reducing grinding time and energy consumption, saving energy for customers and increasing the efficiency of production processes.

Ms. Katina Kiep, Head of Decorative Coatings at Evonik's Coatings Additives Division, added: "TEGO® Wet570 Terra and TEGO® Wet580 Terra are suitable for waterborne decorative coatings, industrial coatings, automotive coatings as well as rail coatings and inks. Their unique properties and compliance with the stringent EU ecolabelling criteria make them ideal for our customers to formulate coatings for a sustainable future."

These biosurfactants are mainly produced in Slovakia. Evonik has led the development of industrial-scale biosurfactants with its intellectual property-protected fermentation-type rhamnoolipid production process. Rhamnose-lipids are produced from renewable corn raw materials through a biotechnological process, and the final product is a high-performance, non-toxic, biodegradable biosurfactant.

Tim-Frederic Sloot, Head of Sustainability at Evonik's Coatings Additives business, added: "These new products not only demonstrate our strong innovation capabilities, but also demonstrate our commitment to driving positive change in the development of environmentally friendly solutions and setting new standards for additives in the coatings and ink industry."

As can be seen from the product data provided by Evonik, these biosurfactants can improve the wettability of organic and inorganic pigments and act as effective dispersants in decorative paints and pigment printings. They increase the wetting rate of pigments and fillers, make the grinding step more efficient, and reduce time and energy consumption. They support good hiding power properties without compromising film strength. They also help eliminate defects in sensitive adhesives and increase biobased content. No negative interaction with rheological modifiers.

In industrial coatings, TEGO® Wet570 Terra and TEGO® Wet580 Terra provide excellent substrate wettability for protective coatings and improve pigment wettability and dispersion. They ensure optimal color performance, better storage stability and good corrosion resistance. These biosurfactants also support the anti-shrinkage effect in canning coatings.

In printing inks, these biosurfactants can improve the wettability of various substrates. During dispersion, they speed up and improve the wettability of pigments and fillers. They help improve the sustainability of inks by reducing VOC levels and increasing the biodegradability of the end product.