Kemira and UMV scale KemAlpha renewable barrier coatings
- Kemira’s KemAlpha showed oil and grease resistance and oxygen barrier OTR <1 g/m²/day (23°C/50%RH).
- Industrial pilot validation was performed on UMV’s INVO® Coater and other UMV coating technologies.
- Trials focused on processability metrics: preparation, runnability, coating speed, ease of handling and efficiency.
- The collaboration uses iterative pilot trials and value-chain alignment to pursue full scalability on industrial coating equipment.
Scaling challenge
Moving renewable barrier chemistries from lab to industrial relevance requires more than formulation: process understanding, pilot validation and cross‑value‑chain collaboration are necessary to prove commercial competitiveness and production fit.
Pilot validation with UMV
Kemira advanced its KemAlpha platform from lab and small‑scale pilot tests to industrial pilot validation with UMV Coating Systems. UMV’s pilot facilities and INVO® Coater enabled testing beyond laboratory limits and assessment of coating performance on near‑industrial equipment.
Performance and processability
Lab and small pilot tests showed KemAlpha delivers oil and grease resistance and an oxygen transmission rate below 1 g/m²/day (23°C/50%RH). The pilot trials then evaluated preparation, runnability, coating speed, ease of handling and overall efficiency to understand real production implications.
Collaboration and next steps
The work was iterative, combining Kemira’s chemistry with UMV’s coating expertise to build confidence in compatibility with existing equipment. The partners report key milestones on multiple UMV coating technologies and target progression to full scalability on industrial coating lines.
Source: Kemira