Seeking Water Repellency Solutions for Cellulosic Products

A SpecialChem Client wants to acquire a solution to impart water repellency or hydrophobicity to cellulose products such as wood and paper. The solution should be comparable in application cost and performance to petroleum-based waxes and ideally, patent-protected. If the solution is a material, then the material should have a stable, existing supply chain >10,000,000 pounds (~4500 Metric Tons) per year volume to support world scale industrial manufacturing applications.

The SpecialChem Client - a leading chemical company is looking for a water repellency solution (material, technology, process) that could be used in industrial manufactured endproducts and could be purchased and/or licensed. Based on its world-scale marketing, production and sales capacity, the SpecialChem Client is confident in its ability to promote a differentiated technology to a next level of commercial success.

• End-use markets for alternatives: Wood composites and products such as OSB (Oriented Strand Boards), PB (Particle Boards), MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard), commercial paper and corrugated boxes, and other cellulosic products.
• Currently used technologies: Petrochemical slack wax and slack wax emulsions.

A global company wants to license, acquire or purchase a material, technology or process to be used to provide hydrophobicity or water repellency to cellulosic based materials.

• The desired solution should be:
  • Ideally patent-protected or supportive of an IP protection
  • Commercially available in quantities >10,000,000 pounds/year (~4500 MT/yr)
  • Advantaged over incumbent petroleum-based alternative in the areas of cost and consistent performance in use in delivering hydrophobicity
  • Life Cycle benefits
  • Low/no odor
  • Non-toxic, safe to handle
  • Non-flammable or have a flash point >500°F (260°C)
  • Able to withstand exposure to 260°F (127°C) for up to approximately 3 minutes without loss of performance.


• The proposed solution must be:
  • A Scalable manufacturing process to millions of pounds (thousands of metric tons) within the next 12 months
  • Cost-effective, such that the cost of materials allows a consumer-affordable and profitable business proposition
  • Free to practice the technology in the Americas and Europe without infringing third party intellectual property rights (preferably including a detailed review of existing patents in the area)
  • Compatible with cellulosic substrates.


• Nice to have:
  • Materials that can be applied via spray application
  • Materials at 200 centipoise viscosity or lower during application
  • Have low/no VOCs
  • Light colored
  • Low capital investment
  • Non-petroleum based

The SpecialChem Client is offering potential for licensing, development, and commercialization on an industrial manufacturing scale. Solutions that could benefit from this potential will be investigated.

The SpecialChem Client is not interested in solutions with only niche application potential. He wants to leverage his capabilities to supply industrial manufacturing applications. As a consequence, technologies that require major capital investments or other things that may add process time or re-engineering may be of reduced interest.

Ideally, commercialization of end-products containing the water-repellent solution could start in 2013.

A differentiated material, technology, or process to provide water resistance to cellulosics, targeting the wood, building products and/or paper industries would be an ideal candidate for the SpecialChem Client who could market it and develop potential new applications. To reach its objectives, the SpecialChem Client is interested in either acquiring:

• The appropriate technology, material, or process
• A portfolio of technologies (several technologies to serve the wax alternatives market)
• The technology PLUS the customer portfolio (if it exists)
• The company owning the technology