LiquiGlide Commercializes Breakthrough Slippery Coating For Paint Tanks

LiquiGlide Inc. has announced it is expanding its super-slippery coating platform beyond consumer packaging to focus on applications in manufacturing. With the patented LiquiGlide CleanTanX™ system, the company is providing a complete industry solution that addresses the manufacturing challenges created by viscous liquids sticking to equipment, such as blenders, reactors and tanks. In manufacturing tank applications, the system has been shown to reduce up to 95% of product waste, wash water and the associated cleaning costs.

“Viscous products sticking to the inside of tanks leads to huge ineffiencies across industries,” said LiquiGlide’s Co-founder and Chairman of the Board, and MIT Professor, Kripa Varanasi. “For example, in paint manufacturing alone, paint sticking to the inside of mixing and holding tanks costs the industry more than 100 million gallons of lost product and billions of dollars per year in associated waste costs. At LiquiGlide, we are on a mission to eliminate waste generated in the manufacturing of viscous products and usher in a new era of sustainable manufacturing.”

LiquiGlide’s CleanTanX system is custom-engineered for each coating application depending on manufacturing specifications and product properties. The technology is retrofitted onsite by LiquiGlide, without having to remove equipment, which minimizes installation costs and operational downtime. In addition, LiquiGlide works closely with its customers to validate coating performance, product compatibility and cost savings.

Overall, the CleanTanX system provides significant sustainability and profitability benefits for manufacturers of viscous or sticky products, including:

•    Dramatically reduced material and operating costs through improved product yields;
•    Virtually eliminating waste water generation and related fresh water consumption;
•    Reduced employee safety risk by minimizing confined space entries for manual cleaning;
•    Mitigated bacterial contamination and corrosion; and
•    Increased capital utilization by reducing equipment cleaning time between batches.

LiquiGlide’s CleanTanX technology was invented at MIT and is based on the groundbreaking science of liquid-impregnated surfaces. The company’s patented, permanently wet coatings create lubricated surfaces that eliminate the no-slip boundary condition between viscous liquids and solid surfaces that causes products to stick to tank walls resulting in costly product losses and waste. Coating durability and performance has been proven in a number of applications and in tank installations.

Dave Smith, LiquiGlide’s CEO and co-founder, said: “LiquiGlide’s coatings are a materials science revolution. Manufacturers across industries have reached out to us looking to address their largest sources of waste. They have real pain points in their business around low product yields and the time and expense to keep production equipment clean. Our patented CleanTanX system can be broadly deployed across a range of manufacturing applications – from food and personal care, to adhesives, agrochemicals and energy – to help companies tackle these complex challenges and improve their bottom line.”