Alcoa Architectural Products unveils its latest scientific innovation: Reynobond® with EcoClean™

May 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Eastman, GA: A building that helps clean itself and eats smog? Sounds like something from a science fiction movie. But it’s far from it. A team of more than 50 Alcoa scientists, determined to make that idea a reality, worked for more than four years to perfect an architectural coating with the ability to actively break down pollutants like smog and to covert them to simple compounds that wash away in the rain. The result: Reynobond with EcoClean powered by HYDROTECT™, the first affordable coating that cleans itself and the air around it. Alcoa Architectural Products will introduce EcoClean at the AIA Convention in New Orleans, at booth #1935 in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

“Scientists have known for decades that the common compound known as titanium dioxide (TiO2) exhibits unique properties when exposed to sunlight – it becomes a catalyst that breaks down any organic pollutants on its surface or in the air around it, while creating a super hydrophilic, water-loving surface that washes clean with the smallest amount of water. It’s a natural, organic cleanser. The problem was that we did not have the technology to use a titanium dioxide finish on a pre-painted metal surface because the compound also attacks the organic pigments in paint,” said Sid Peterson, vice president of sales and marketing for Alcoa Architectural Products. “However, the idea that we might work with a natural compound to reduce the lifetime maintenance cost of a building, keep it clean and help to clean the environment at the same time posed an inspiring challenge.”

Working with the TOTO®-patented HYDROTECT technology, Alcoa’s scientists had a major breakthrough and created the first titanium dioxide finish that can be applied to a pre-painted metal surface with coil-coating equipment: the EcoClean coating. The titanium dioxide particles in EcoClean break down nitrogen oxides (NOx or smog) and other organic matter in the air near its surface while turning the face of the Reynobond panel into a super hydrophilic surface that’s very slick in the presence of water. EcoClean technology helps to protect the planet naturally – drawing on sunlight, rainwater and other natural forces to help cleanse the environment of some of the most prolific organic materials and major contributors to air pollution such as nitrogen oxides (NOx). When it rains, even the slightest amount, EcoClean helps the building rinse away surface contaminants.

The EcoClean coating can be used with a broad palette of Reynobond paint colors and finishes. Bright Silver Metallic and other select finishes are already available with the EcoClean coating.

Alcoa Architectural Products offers a complete range of exterior and interior cladding and corporate identity solutions. Architects and specifiers find they have greater control over the finished appearance of projects when working with the Alcoa family of products, which includes the Reynobond Face Fastened Solution, the Colorweld® 500 finish with the industry’s first 30-year warranty, and innovative materials such as Anodized Reynobond, Reynobond Wood Grain ACM and Reynobond with KEVLAR®, in addition to classic Reynobond ACM, Reynobond Natural Metal and Reynolux® profiled panels and flat sheet. Alcoa Architectural Products is a business unit of Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of aluminum products.

For more information about Reynobond with EcoClean, please visit the Alcoa Architectural Products booth #1935 in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, contact your sales representative for more information and a demonstration, contact the Alcoa Architectural Products manufacturing plant at 800 841 7774 or visit ecoclean.com.

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Alcoa Architectural Products’ line of products provides a complete range of exterior and interior cladding and corporate identity solutions. Alcoa Architectural Products is a business unit of Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of aluminum products.