Sustainable innovation
We go beyond to transform the coatings industry
TEGO® Wet 570 Terra and TEGO® Wet 580 Terra for coatings, paints, and inks: Biosurfactants are an environmentally friendly and high-performance alternative to conventional surfactants.
Our latest whitepaper contains in-depth technical information about our new biosurfactants TEGO® Wet 570 Terra and 580 Terra.
Fully biodegradable
Surfactants are indispensable for coatings and inks, but are usually based on fossil raw materials. Evonik offers innovative alternatives: TEGO® Wet 570 Terra and TEGO® Wet 580 Terra. These biosurfactants are produced from 100 percent plant-based raw materials by fermentation, and they decompose without leaving any residues that are harmful to health or the environment. That’s how they help customers from the coatings and printing ink industry meet the increasingly high environmental standards worldwide as well as the growing demand for sustainable solutions.
Outstanding performance
The performance of the TEGO® Wet Terra product range is also impressive. These biosurfactants offer good pigment, substrate, and filler wetting and are suitable for waterborne architectural, wood, and industrial coatings as well as pigment concentrates. They also ensure excellent coverage without impairing the strength of the film. Additional benefits: They eliminate defects in sensitive binders and there are no negative interactions with rheology modifiers.
Product benefits at a glance
- Good performance for pigment and filler wetting
- Improved substrate wetting
- Suitable for waterborne decorative paints, industrial coatings and inks
- Very low VOC levels
About biosurfactants
Evonik uses rhamnolipids for the TEGO® Wet Terra product range. Rhamnolipids belong to the group of biosurfactants known as glycolipids and are produced by fermentation without the use of tropical oils or chemical processes. Rhamnolipids are completely biodegradable, non-toxic, and well tolerated by aquatic organisms.
Evonik is the first company in the world to produce rhamnolipids on an industrial scale. The production facility is located in Slovenská Ľupča, Slovakia, which is an important strategic center for Evonik’s biotechnology research and production.
The new rhamnolipid plant went into operation in May 2023. This production facility uses a biotechnological fermentation process that Evonik developed itself. Renewable European corn sugar is used as the main raw material.
The rhamnolipids produced in the plant are the result of many years of intensive research. These biosurfactants were originally developed for personal care and cleaning products. Evonik can now also offer them for the production of paints, inks, and coatings. To this end, teams from a variety of areas such as laboratories and the application technology unit of the Coating Additives business line worked closely with colleagues from the company’s Care businesses.
“Evonik’s technical expertise and innovative strength, especially in surface chemistry and biotechnology, were crucial to the development of our new TEGO® Wet Terra product range,” says Elias Lacerda, Head of Coating Additives at Evonik. The company’s comprehensive expertise in biosurfactants for coatings and printing ink formulations also played an important role. “It quickly enabled us to develop our new biosurfactants and bring them to market,” Lacerda adds.
