BASF opened a new laboratory and technical development center for its dispersions and resins business in Australia and New Zealand. The new center will provide technical support and resources to help local customers develop new and sustainable innovations in the paint and coatings industry.

The new state-of-the-art laboratory facilities are located at one of Australia’s pre-eminent universities, Monash University. The lab, located at the University’s Clayton campus in Melbourne, will have access to the university’s extensive facilities and expertise in green chemistry and engineering to complement the global technical resources of BASF.

BASF provides dispersions and resins solutions to help paint and coatings manufacturers advance their formulations. BASF develops, produces and markets a comprehensive selection of raw materials for highly demanding paints and coatings used for architectural coatings in the harsh Australia and New Zealand environment.

“We work very closely with our customers to trial and test formulations to ensure the applications can deliver the benefits they seek – whether that’s appearance, rheological properties, adhesion, color stability or other properties,” said Greg Morrow, business & sales manager, dispersions & resins for BASF Australia and New Zealand.

“Our laboratory chemists have the capability to support customers across the Australia and New Zealand manufacturing industry leveraging on the broad technical and applications knowledge of the wider BASF team.”

“We are delighted to have BASF co-located within the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Industry partnerships are extremely important to a modern university, and we are committed to ensuring the BASF technical development center capitalizes on the opportunities the co-location brings,” added Nick Birbilis, head of materials science and engineering at Monash.

The facilities comprise two laboratories, office and storage facilities and will be supported by three permanent chemist positions at the site. The center will also provide support to other industries using our dispersions and resins such as construction, fiber bonding and adhesives. It will also be available for customers of BASF’s Performance Materials and Care Chemicals business.