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Covestro provides sustainable polyurethane coating technology to create customized wall for children with autism in Shanghai

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Fulfilling social responsibility with material expertise
  • Washable and easy-to-clean wall enables children with autism to enjoy painting art therapy
  • Solution combines for the first time waterborne resins from recently acquired RFM business with patented curing agent developed locally by Covestro in Asia Pacific
Covestro creates a customized, low gloss, and easy-to-clean wall for Shanghai Qingcongquan Training Center for Children with Special Needs using its sustainable polyurethane coating technology, providing a healthy and comfortable environment for children with autism to enjoy painting art therapy. ©Covestro
Covestro creates a customized, low gloss, and easy-to-clean wall for Shanghai Qingcongquan Training Center for Children with Special Needs using its sustainable polyurethane coating technology, providing a healthy and comfortable environment for children with autism to enjoy painting art therapy. ©Covestro
In recent years, society has worked to deepen its understanding of autism and how to cultivate supportive environments and education for children with autism. Research finds that carrying out targeted early-stage training can alleviate the negative symptoms of children with autism experience, and enhance their ability to communicate. Covestro supported this work with a customized, low gloss, and easy-to-clean wall for Shanghai Qingcongquan Training Center for Children with Special Needs using its sustainable polyurethane coating technology, providing a healthy and comfortable environment for children with autism to enjoy painting art therapy.
Representatives from Covestro and Shanghai Qingcongquan Training Center for Children unveil a customized, easy-to-clean wall at Qingcongquan on July 12, 2021. From left: Julia Xiang, Head of Corporate Communications, Covestro Asia Pacific; Chen Jianqiang, deputy headmaster of Qingcongquan; Holly Lei, President of Covestro China; Chen Jie, founder and headmaster of Qingcongquan; Zhong Xiaobin, Senior Vice President of Coatings and Adhesives, Covestro Asia Pacific. ©Covestro
“Supporting organizations like Qingcongquan is an embodiment of our commitment to corporate social responsibility and the company’s diversity and inclusion culture, and is also in line with our mission for sustainable development,” said Holly Lei, President of Covestro China. “In this CSR project, we applied Covestro’s brand-new waterborne polyurethane easy-to-clean wall coating technology, locally developed in the Asia-Pacific region. We are delighted to leverage our material expertise to provide innovative solutions that support these children’s development and therapies.”

Founded in October 2004, the Shanghai Qingcongquan Training Center for Children with Special Needs is a non-profit private organization committed to providing professional training and coaching to children with autism and their families. Covestro has been supporting Qingcongquan through volunteer services and event sponsorships since 2017.

Chen Jie, the founder and headmaster of Qingcongquan, commented, “Painting and art therapy has been proven to promote mental health and development, as well as the recovery of cognitive functions for children with autism. By using its innovative coating technology, Covestro turned an ordinary wall into a surface on which children can paint freely, allowing them to express their creativity with various colors and tools without limitation; teachers are then able to easily wipe away the drawings, keeping the wall clean and ensuring repeated use. In addition, the coating used has no obvious smell from construction to commissioning, which safeguards the health of children and teachers.”

The project uses a waterborne, sustainable product solution based on Covestro’s polyurethane coating technology, using raw materials and a formula that contain very low volatile organic compounds, and are free of benzene and formaldehyde. Once painted on the wall, a spacial network cross-link reaction occurs within the paint film, which allows the wall finishing to achieve high strength and an easy-to-clean effect similar to that of high-end automotive paint.

“While maintaining its easy-to-clean function, the new solution developed for Qingcongquan effectively reduces the gloss of the paint film, thus creating a visually comfortable indoor space for children. Past technologies can hardly achieve both features at the same time,” explained Zhong Xiaobin, Senior Vice President of Coatings and Adhesives, Covestro Asia Pacific. “The easy-to-clean feature also allows the solution to be widely applied in places such as hospitals, offices, and residential interiors, and can meet the growing demand for high-quality, sustainable coating solutions.”

In order to satisfy the performance requirement for the project, the formula used for the first time combined the new patented curing agent developed by Covestro and the hydroxy acrylic acid dispersion from Resins and Functional Materials (RFM), a business recently acquired from DSM, forming a waterborne two-component polyurethane coating system. “By integrating RFM’s strengths, we have enhanced our product and technology portfolio to best serve customer needs and achieve sustainable growth, and the success of the Qingcongquan project is proof of this commitment,” added Zhong. Covestro completed the acquisition of RFM on April 1, 2021.


About Covestro:

With 2020 sales of EUR 10.7 billion, Covestro is among the world’s leading polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative, sustainable solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. In doing so, Covestro is fully committed to the circular economy. The main industries served are the automotive and transportation industries, construction, furniture and wood processing, as well as electrical, electronics, and household appliances industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. At the end of 2020, Covestro has 33 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 16,500 people (calculated as full-time equivalents).

Forward-looking statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by the management of Covestro AG. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Covestro’s public reports, which are available at www.covestro.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.
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