The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry of the American Chemistry Council announced Romeo RIM Inc., TSE Industries Inc. and INVISTA as the finalists for the 2013 Polyurethane Innovation Award. Attendees at the 2013 Polyurethanes Technical Conference, which will take place September 23 to 25 at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel in Phoenix, will have the opportunity to vote for one of these finalists during the conference’s opening session on September 23. The winner will be announced during the closing session on September 25.

“The vision and forward thinking of each of these finalists truly made them stand out,” said CPI Senior Director Lee Salamone. “Their achievements have helped advance the chemistry of polyurethanes and pioneer applications for polyurethane products, and demonstrate just how much our industry is thriving. We congratulate Romeo RIM Inc., TSE Industries Inc. and INVISTA Terate Polyols on their extraordinary work.”

The innovations selected as finalists for this year’s coveted award are:

• Romeo RIM for its class A, in-mold decorated long fiber injection system.

“Long fiber injection (LFI) is a material system that combines structural foam polyurethane with long glass strands to create a light weight structural part. Due to the glass concentration, Class A surface finishes were not feasible in the past. After three years of development, Romeo RIM has commercialized a class A LFI system that is decorated in-mold,” said Romeo RIM, Inc.

• TSE Industries, Inc. for its new polyurethane thermoset resin for filament winding applications.
• INVISTA Terate Polyols for its new Terate HT polyols.

“Terate HT polyols from INVISTA are a new line of aromatic polyester polyols based on an innovative chemistry platform for use in polyurethane applications. Designed at a molecular level, Terate HT polyols offer performance advances while retaining many of the benefits of INVISTA’s traditional Terate polyols such as high foam compressive strengths, high weight and volume retention in fire and smoke testing,” said INVISTA Terate Polyols.

A panel of judges, comprised of experts representing technical disciplines and the polyurethane supply chain, evaluates all eligible submissions. Judges evaluate and score all entries based on impact on the polyurethanes industry, uniqueness of the innovation, quality of the science and societal impact. The three submissions with the highest scores were selected as finalists to be considered for the 2013 Polyurethane Innovation Award.  Each finalist will prepare a poster describing the innovation which will be on display at the conference.

Each finalist will share a three-minute presentation detailing the uniqueness and impact of the innovation, along with the benefits it will bring to the industry and society during the opening session of the 2013 Polyurethanes Technical Conference on September 23. Each individual conference registrant attending the opening session may cast one vote for one finalist. The finalist with the most votes from the audience will receive an additional 20 points to be added to the score from the judges. The innovation with the highest total score will be deemed the winner and announced on September 25, during the closing session of the 2013 Polyurethanes Technical Conference.

Award entries pertaining to a polyurethane product or polyurethane manufacture were required to relate to polyurethane chemistry, which is expressly defined as the reaction of an isocyanate with a polyol. Innovations in polyurethane chemistry may include finished products, initiatives, training or education programs, or processes or processing equipment.

All entries for the 2013 award were required to represent new innovations that have not been previously submitted for the Innovation Award and had not been available for commercial sales longer than 15 months prior to June 18, 2013.