Technology with Nalucoat the car even greener
Decorative chrome plating is a treatment used to give an aesthetic plus to each element, making it pleasant from an aesthetic point of view and resistant from a functional point of view..
It is also widely applied in the automotive sector on both plastic and metal, especially on aluminum: door pull handles, paddle shift, dashboard inserts and door panels and other details that can generate a perception of greater value.
The production phase, however, is characterized by a series of aspects that make this process unsustainable as well as not allowing the recycling of the elements on which it is applied.. Think of aluminum artifacts, despite being a metal that can be recycled over and over again, this fundamental characteristic is lost due to the presence of overstocks that force or to inversion processes, highly energy-intensive, wasteful and polluting, or to disposal as special waste.
From the point of view of production it is estimated that they are needed beyond 15 liters of water per square meter of submerged surface, as well as a large amount of electricity, classified as raw material in the form of low voltage direct current obtained by rectifiers. Lastly, the thermal energy used to keep the solutions operational at certain temperatures.
Even more important are the chemicals needed to facilitate the electroplating process and the metals that are deposited, used both in massive form and in the form of salts and compounds.
Among these we have hexavalent chromium, considered one of the most important and dangerous environmental pollutants that, in case of accidental spills, thanks to the high solubility in water, it can spread over large areas. Think of the famous cause, brought against Pacific Gas & Electric nel 1993, for contamination withhexavalent chromium of the waters of the city ofHinkley inCalifornia for over 30 years, subject of the largest legal action of its kind, headed by Brockovich and Ed Masry. The energy giant was forced to pay the largest compensation in US history: 333 millions of dollars to more than 600 residents of Hinkley, episode that inspired in 2000 il film “Erin Brockovich”.
By law it is mandatory to switch to the so-called trivalent chromium variant (CrO3), less toxic and harmful. But also for this variant, important legislative changes are underway, pushed by the Reach Committee (with reference to the publication of 17 June 2022 by the CTACSub) which invite you to apply, wherever possible, suitable alternatives to this treatment.
Consequently, failure to grant authorization to use even trivalent chromium compounds, it would involve the complete compromise of the supply chain upstream of the manufacturing and assembly industries. The time has therefore come for industries and designers to start preparing, also with the help of those who have experience in the field of alternative treatments.
A fundamental contribution to the development of these solutions is due to Gian Luca Falleti, interpreter of nanotechnologies in the concrete world of industrial production.
Falleti tells us about his latest innovation, the Nalucoa treatmentt®, which also finds application in the automotive sector, following for example the philosophy espoused by the Stellantis Group.
The DS7 is the first car called "Chrome Detox", that is, it eliminates the chromed pieces both inside and outside, adds Falleti: "However, it is not necessary to deprive oneself of the aesthetic effect, just eliminate the unsustainable processes that make the pieces non-recyclable ".
The automotive sector is not only working on sustainable mobility but also on sustainable manufacturing, creating both assembly and disassembly lines (a new paradigm that we see already applied by the telephony giant Apple) allowing, to end-of-life meetings, to be recycled. Therefore every material and every treatment must allow the recycling of the pieces.
Hence the immediate need, by the entire automotive industry, to intervene on manufacturing processes through the use of enabling technologies such as Nalucoat®, a valid and viable alternative to traditional finishing treatments.
The Italian vaccine against Covid is a varnish
By Michele Brambilla – 17 October 2022
The invention of a small chemical company in the province of Reggio Emilia renders all the viruses and bacteria that land on surfaces inert. Thus the feat of Gianluca Falleti for the 2022 is 2023 it is the first in Italy in its sector for economic growth and the fourth in Europe
The end of February 2020. There are three people on a plane that is returning from Barcelona to Italy: in the sense of three in all. Only three passengers because, even if the measures to close everything have not yet been taken, the world is already stopping. We come across words and acronyms hitherto unknown to almost everyone, and then in other obsolete words, and then again in other removed: coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2, Covid-19, lockdown, Ffp2, red zones, pulse oximeter, hydroxychloroquine, Epidemic, pandemic. We discover a feeling that not even our wartime grandparents had known, accustomed as they were to the hard life: let's get acquainted with fear. Collective fear. And what scares more than what is new and unknown? The virus is more unknown than bombs, the Spanish flu and the plague are memories of past generations. The world will end? We will go extinct? We are all thinking about this as that plane returns to Italy loaded with only three passengers.
One of these three returning from Barcelona is called Gianluca Falleti, at that moment it has 44 years, was born in Sassuolo and is the owner of a small company he founded in 2000: la Nanoprom Chemicals. Five employees, a beautiful headquarters in the industrial area of Casalgrande, in the province of Reggio Emilia, fraction of Sant'Antonino, on the border with the ceramic district of Sassuolo. In short, we are in one of those corners of the peninsula that make our GDP rise so much.
The company produces very thin glass which is "doped" with various materials to be adapted to the most sophisticated technological devices; does cold vitrification; invents and produces the “lightest” paints in the world. A Formula car 1, to say, is painted with 250 grams if opaque and 300 grams if shiny. For a Curti helicopter of Castel Bolognese, eight kilos of paint was once needed, enough now 800 grams of the product designed and supplied by Nanoprom. Lightweight glass and paint: to a drone it has gone by 17 a 3,4 kilograms. And what can such a company do against Covid?
"On that plane", says Falleti, “I was thinking about what I could do to help. In Barcelona I had participated in the F1 tests and presented some plastics with our paints; they are like films that are used to color and protect the cars during the races, to prevent dust from adhering to the body, to cushion impacts with anything that may come up from the track.
“So I thought: I make a varnish to be applied to another film that protects against viruses and bacteria. But I understood that it was infeasible from a bureaucratic point of view: too many certifications were needed. I didn't give up, because I try to never stop in the face of a difficulty. I invested 330.000 euros to create a staff that would invent something to secure homes, offices, school. And I have to thank the Region, which helped me with 70.000 euro”.
And that's how BV-Stop was born: the first anti-Covid paint in the world. To be precise: anti-all-viruses, anti-all-bacteria, anti mould. “It is an invisible paint, transparent. It is applied with a spray on all paintable surfaces but also on fabrics. In order to understand each other: even in an armchair, on a pillow, on a bed. It cannot be seen and has no smell, on the contrary, it eliminates odors caused by bacteria. Thirty square meters are protected with a liter".
But how does it work? “After thirty minutes the virus dropped on a surface painted with BV-Stop becomes inert al 99,9 percent, and the bacteria are destroyed”. How can you be sure? “Con 6.700 pounds I had a lamp made in Great Britain with a light balance that, with a blue ray, allows you to see where the bacteria are, where they can be and where the paint has already passed. This checks the level of protection”. How long does this protection last? “About five years. And if it lasts less, you can go over the paint".
The BV-Stop has been on the market for a month. The first buyer was the Municipality of Casalgrande, who protected his Registry Office with this magical spray. Schools and company canteens have also ordered it. A large hospital in Turin is evaluating it. For now this paint is unique in the world: a patent application was filed last year and no objections are reported, which is considered a good sign. Meanwhile the company has grown from five to nine employees and the turnover has risen to two million seven hundred thousand euros a year. According to the Financial Times ranking, the small Nanoprom Chemicals of Casalgrande, Province of Reggio Emilia, for the 2022 is 2023 it is the first Italian chemical company and the fourth in Europe for economic growth.
In short, this is a story of Italian genius. A story of those "how to turn a crisis into an opportunity". But if you say this phrase, Falleti glares at you.
“I have not used Covid to earn money or to grow the company, I assure you. My father in law died of Covid. And faced with this planetary tragedy, I thought if I could lend a hand in my own small way, if I could come up with something. I was wondering: but i really can't do anything? We are truly powerless in the face of this enemy so tiny as to be invisible? What can I do to help? When the news of the first lockdown arrived, I was skiing in the mountains. I remember everyone's sense of dread. I felt a huge emptiness. I have two sons, and above all those who have children were afraid.
“When we developed the anti-Covid paint, I wanted to be sure it really worked. I had it tested by three companies and universities in three different cities: Modena, Firenze, Chieti. Only when all three of them gave me the certification did I start…”. to sell it? “To give it away. I told him, it has only been on the market for a month. First I donated it to the Sassuolo Red Cross, of Scandiano, of Maranello and Casalgrande. They protected the ambulances with BV-Stop. Then I moved on to schools. They asked me to protect them from Covid with my paint, and I asked: but how long has it been since you whitened? In a school near us, which I won't name, they answered me: from 1984. He realizes in what condition the Italian school is? But she knows he paints them, after a few years, they become cancerous if they are not removed and replaced? If you don't whiten the old walls? I answered those who asked me about the BV-Stop: first whiten, then i pass it. And I assure you that I could have immediately earned hundreds of thousands of euros if I had ignored it, and passed my anti Covid paint on those walls last painted in 1984. Today any municipality can use European funds against Covid to have all the classrooms repainted, and then prepare for the BV-Stop.
“Making money with Covid? There are those who made them. There are many who have marched on it. That's why I left, here in our area, the anti-looting project. When they sold surgical masks for two or three euros each, I gave away more than a hundred thousand. And the ones I sold, I sold them to 50 cents each, well before this was the state-mandated price. If then a family had three children, the third had a free mask, and for the first two the price was forty cents".
Even on the masks, the small Nanoprom has tried to innovate. “I produced masks with a particular fabric: 45 percent cellulose e 55 percent polyester. With these masks, the water is completely absorbed and the virus becomes inert in eight hours: so you don't even need to incinerate them. You can throw them away in the regular trash. They gave us the Open Innovation award of small and medium-sized enterprises, for these masks.
Now Falleti is aiming for the recognition of Nanoprom as a B-Corp company, that is, to be certified as a company that, as well as chasing profit, has high standards of social and environmental performance. “Il 15 December last year we received the patent as the only company in the world that is offering an alternative to the use of galvanic, which forces them to be disposed of in special waste. We launched the Nalucoat project, which means to use, instead of galvanic, another technology and materials that can be recycled one hundred percent. Our business lies in research and development: companies come to us with requests, and we study how to help them. We work with the Formula 1 and with Moto GP, with boating, with drones, with all: from submarines to satellites”.
The magic paint will work? It will really eliminate Covid, and all other viruses, and all bacteria, and all the bad smells in homes, offices, factories, hospitals and cars? The patent will arrive that will certify yet another Italian miracle? Meanwhile, this is a story of Italian genius. And where does our genius come from? Pupi Avati, great director, he says from having suffered and knowing how to react. “I have lost both parents since I was thirteen”, says Falleti. “As a boy I was an insurer, I delivered pizzas and washed cars. I've tried sneaking sleep in insurance company bathrooms. In a 21 I haven't bought a car in years: I bought myself a house”.
We are about to go out. Ask us: “He needs to go to the bathroom?" Why not, at my age. “Ecco, then I show her what happens before and after using a toilet”. Then he enters with his magic lantern, which by lighting up blue shows us where the bacteria are, where there is the protection of its anti-virus and anti-bacteria paint, and where instead we still have to pass it. He is happy like a child. Because he invented something to make money? Who knows these entrepreneurs, he knows it's not the gain (which is also needed, yes, and that's right) to make those who undertake a work happy. It is the feeling that something new has been done, it is the feeling that one has done something useful for others. “What I told her is the 5 percent of what this company has done”, he says as he accompanies us to the parking lot. His company is among those classified in the "Growth Leaders 2022" category compiled by the Sun 24 Ore, with a growth rate of 54,76 percent.
Ecco, as long as there are people like that, enough to talk about a finite country. Stop crying.
[Source: https://www.ilfoglio.it/] Read MoreNanoprom Chemicals, the Reggio-based company that defeats Covid with innovation
17 October 2022
Entrepreneurs and innovation will save the world. After discovering the recent history of Nanoprom Chemicals, the Casalgande company founded by Gianluca Falleti, on Il Foglio one cannot help but think so. Activate from 2000, it has nine employees and deals with cold vitrification, but also to produce special glasses for sophisticated technological devices and the lightest paints in the world.
BV-Stop, the anti-Covid paint by Nanoprom Chemicals
When the pandemic broke out, Falletti wondered, as an entrepreneur, what he could do to help out. So he decided to invest 330,000 euros to build a staff with one goal: inventing something that would secure homes, offices and school. The Emilia-Romagna Region, who had glimpsed the potential of the project, he had contributed by investing as much as 70 thousand euros. The outcome? BV-Stop was born, the paint that keeps all viruses away, bacteria and molds. We can therefore talk about the first anti-Covid paint in the world. An extraordinary result.
How BV-Stop works
It is a transparent varnish, can also be used on fabrics, which not only has no smell, but it also removes those caused by bacteria. The effectiveness is almost instantaneous. Thirty minutes after application, the bacteria are killed and the virus becomes inert 99,9%. With a liter of BV-Stop you can protect even thirty square meters of surface, but that's not all. The protection lasts five years.
This miraculous paint has been on the market for a month and the patent has been filed, there will be news soon. In the meantime, buyers are starting to arrive. Not just company canteens and schools, but the municipality of Casalgrande itself is also using it. And that's just the beginning.
Innovative masks, here is the Open Innovation award
In the first phase of the pandemic, also, Nanoprom Chemicals has produced innovative masks. Established at 45% of cellulose et al 55% of polyester, these masks are able to completely absorb water. In this way, the virus becomes inert in eight hours and there is no need to incinerate them. This innovation has allowed the Falleti-based company to win the Open Innovation award for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Nanoprom Chemicals numbers and prospects
Reading the ranking of the Financial Times one jumps. Nanoprom Chemicals, indeed, turns out to be the first Italian chemical company and the fourth in Europe in terms of economic growth considering the 2022 and the 2023. Not bad at all for a small company in the Reggio area that also appears in the "Leader of growth 2022" ranking by the Sun 24 Ore. The growth rate, indeed, settles around 54,76%.
Falleti now would like Nanoprom to be recognized as a B-Corp company. The certification would make official what is already known in the area: the firm is not limited to pursuing profit, but is characterized by high standards of social and environmental performance. And this goes beyond innovations in healthcare, to the anti-looting project aimed at avoiding speculation on masks and providing them at affordable prices. For example, last year a patent certified that the company was the only one on the market to offer an alternative option to electroplating. Thanks to the Nalucoat project, in which he focused on sustainable technology and materials, it is possible to avoid creating special waste. Yet another demonstration thatthe future is today and it is companies that make it possible.
[Source: https://loccidentale.it/]The new LEBA process 1974 with nanocoating from Nanoprom Chemicals guarantees the complete recyclability of aluminium
From an interview with
Gian Luca Falleti – Nanoprom Chemicals (Sant'Antonino di Casalgrande, Reggio Emilia) gianluca@nanoprom.it Ivan Bonvini – GO 1974 (San Genesio and Uniti, Pavia) ivanbonvini@leba.it
The LEBA company 1974, specialized in finishing treatments for aluminum and light alloys, created the new Nalucoat treatment thanks to the Polysil nanotechnological coating, patented by Nanoprom Chemicals, and is proposed as an ecological alternative to traditional surface treatments.
© Nanoprom Chemicals
Nanoprom Chemicals has been developing silicon-based nanomaterials applied to all surfaces since the late 1990s.
According to ECHA, the chemicals agency of the European Union, Nanomaterials are “chemical substances or materials composed of particles with at least one size between 1 is 100 nanometers”. But not everyone agrees on the definition, Why, In many cases, more than size, what represents its peculiarity are the innovative functions that the materials take on thanks to the presence of these nanomaterials. It is precisely the development of this nanotechnology applied to surface coatings that has characterized the work and success of Nanoprom Chemicals, company of Sant'Antonio di Casalgrande (RE) and which has led it today to develop a new application, named Nalucoat, in partnership with the LEBA company 1974, start-ups from San Genesio and Uniti (PV) in which the experience of beyond is conveyed 50 years in the field of surface treatments of aluminum and light alloys with an eco-sustainable perspective. “Already at the end of the nineties – explains Gian Luca Falleti, CEO of Nanoprom – our company has started to develop silicon-based nanomaterials applied to all surfaces for which protection is fundamental: polymer-based structures, metals, alloys and glass. The leap in quality occurred with the industrialization by a famous packaging multinational, of the Polysil product from us
© Nanoprom Chemicals © LEBA 1974
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Gian Luca Falleti, CEO of Nanoprom Chemicals. Ivan Bonvini, CEOs are LOOKING 1974.
developed and still used today for the protection of its production plants present throughout the world and made of steel, aluminum and glass”.
From submarines to satellites: an award-winning nanotechnology in all sectors
“Polysil – continues Falleti – it has the same qualities as glass. This way all surfaces, let it be in gelcoat, fiberglass, metal or other substrates, they can be recovered or preserved from wear and tear, in a similar way to the material on which it is deposited, ensuring excellent corrosion resistance and high hardness. Furthermore, thanks to the reduction of the surface tension that characterizes it, the surfaces become resilient to dirt”. The application potential of this nanotechnological coating is almost infinite. “From submarines to satellites, from water to air, it is a technology that can be applied by immersion or spray with traditional or latest generation devices on any type of product and can be functionalised according to the customer's needs". Thanks to the flexibility of Polysil, throughout its history Nanoprom has been awarded in various sectors, from naval to aeronautics via automotive, Formula One in particular, food, the military and cosmetic packaging, just to name a few. “With the experience gained from the various applications of Polysil and with the collaboration of LEBA 1974, we have recently patented an application of nanotechnological coating capable of covering aluminum products and functionalizing their surface, proposing itself as an eco-sustainable alternative to traditional surface treatments such as galvanic and anodic oxidation, and ensuring recyclability 100% of the treated pieces, as well as a painting cycle a 3 lean phases, consisting of pre-coating, application and polymerization and free of waste”.
Features and benefits of Nalucoat
“As experts in eco-sustainable surface treatments for aluminum and light alloys – intervenes Ivan Bonvini, CEOs are LOOKING 1974 – we were looking for a coating that maintained the material characteristics of this particular metal, but what, at the same time, was ecological, both in terms of energy consumption and in terms of waste. We have not found any other process capable of guaranteeing the eco-sustainability and recyclability of the finished piece like Nanoprom's nanotechnological coating.. We have therefore adopted this Simple Principle aesthetic-functional finishing treatment in our process
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permanente, very low thickness, based on nanocomposite coating, whose main element is silicon dioxide coming from quartz sand, abundantly present in nature, which allows us to obtain completely recyclable and recoverable elements”. “One of the advantages of this new process – explains Falleti – is determined by the fact that the component coated with Nalucoat can be immediately reintroduced into the melting crucible for recycling and recovery of the metal without further surface treatments. In fact, Falleti continues: “Silicon dioxide (SiO2) of which our product is made, indeed, does not affect the remelted primary alloy, varying the percentage of silicon titration in an irrelevant way. It cannot be overpainted, but it can be supplied in all the colors requested. In fact, we collaborate with the most important pigment producers to respond to the most complex requests and develop new innovative effects. After pre-treatment it can be applied in a single coat at room temperature by spraying or dipping, exactly like traditional paints, polymerized with the 20% of humidity and is dust-free 10 minutes, also with 20 °C. The tests we have carried out guarantee us, finally, a resistance that can even reach 700 hours in salt spray".
Innovating behind the scenes
Not just the ability to develop new technology in the field of nanomaterials, but also Nanoprom's business model have determined the success of the company. “We are present in numerous sectors – concludes Falleti – but not everyone knows us because our main objective is to develop a technology that the customer will then promote and spread. Only in the military sector, in the aerospace and Formula One sectors we intervene directly and, generally, we do this to solve the countless difficulties generated by surface treatments with our nanocoatings. We have paved the way for developments that were previously unimaginable, finding innovative solutions for producers of the most varied manufacturing sectors with a methodology constantly updated and adapted from time to time by the customer: so far we have accepted and solved every challenge that has arisen and we are ready to be tested every day in the future too".
© LEBA 1974 © LEBA 1974
GO 1974 created the new Nalucoat treatment for aluminum thanks to the Polysil nanotechnological coating, patented by Nanoprom Chemicals.
The component coated with Nalucoat can be immediately reintroduced into the melting crucible for metal recycling and recovery without further surface treatments.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE MONTH
Vining Ivy is the Color of the Year 2023 of PPG which will influence industrial design
Alicia Cafardi
PPG Industrial Coatings, Pittsburgh – United States acafardi@ppg.com
PPG presented the Color of the Year 2023: Vining Ivy is a new intense shade of green between forest green and aqua green.
PPG announced that it is expected to be the color of the year 2023, Vining Ivy, it will influence the stylistic direction of industrial and consumer products, including household items, consumer electronics and office furniture. PPG also announced a color collection called Reflection made up of three matching palettes. Vining Ivy reflects the global predominance of green around the world. This is the second year in a row that PPG has selected a shade of green and the third in the last five years. During the annual trend color forecast workshop and following an in-depth analysis in 10 regions of the world of automotive sector trends, Consumer electronics, architecture and fashion, PPG color stylists came to select Vining Ivy. “We are seeing the color green being applied to an ever-wider range of products”, said Vanessa Peterson, PPG global color styling leader, Industrial Coatings. “With the selection of 2023 we felt compelled to recognize his continuing influence, because it has entered the market in such a strong and powerful way". PPG color designers believe the predominance of this shade reflects continued interest in biophilic design, a trend that incorporates nature into everyday life and spaces. “Green has a relaxing yet modern aesthetic and symbolizes prosperity, freshness and progress”, Peterson said. “It perfectly reflects our current climate”. Compared to the color of the year 2022 at PPG, Olive Sprig, a soft desaturated green, Vining Ivy has a deeper, more saturated hue, between an intense forest-green and a water-green-blue. Vining Ivy offers ai designer
© Business Wire
of products a versatile and luxurious shade that lends itself to a wide range of applications. “For the furniture, the use of greenery can be relaxing in the workplace and help employees feel at ease”, Peterson said. “When used in consumer electronics, green conveys safety and helps people interact with technology. For household items, Vining Ivy matches various food colors and coordinates well with stainless steel, giving a touch of luxury to kitchens”. PPG's global team of color stylists has also selected a color collection consisting of 45 coordinated shades that revolve around the Reflection theme that is inspired by shared appreciation – and growing – for minimalism, the quiet design, biophilia and comfort. The collection is divided into three unique palettes: Serenity, Origin e Duality. With a delicate composition of light pastels, aqua shades and warm neutrals, Serenity reflects the desire for calm and solitude in a chaotic world and inspires a sense of renewal and peace. Capturing the authentic beauty of nature, Origin cultivates a sense of wonder with organic hues. Lending itself to both traditional and contemporary styles, Duality is an arrangement of contrasts and is a means of personal expression through bold, bright hues, clean pastels and strong neutrals. PPG Industrial Coatings has created a short video that tells the story of the Reflection theme through the experiences of a young woman embarking on a journey of growth and self-discovery.
© Business Wire Scan or click the QR Code to view the video and other materials on Vining Ivy
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[Source: https://amp.issuu.com/ipcm/docs/ipcm_n_77_settembre_ottobre_it/s/16919783] Read More
