UFlex Chemicals Secures the Patent for Manufacturing High-Performance Epoxy Ester Resin

On Monday, the share price of Uflex Ltd. surged intraday by more than 2 per cent after the company’s Chemicals Business secured a patent (Patent No. 354903) on ‘A process for the preparation of Epoxy Ester Resin’ in compliance with the provisions of the Patents Act, 1970. This is the first patent for the company’s chemicals business in India and as per the officials, it will also be applying to get hold on a global patent in the meanwhile.

UFlex’ Chemicals Business is the world’s leading player engaged in manufacturing of inks, polyester films, coatings and adhesives for packaging, labels, cartons, and paperboard. The company is the world’s largest supplier of polyester films for flexible packaging applications. Headquartered in Noida (National Capital Region, New Delhi), the company’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities are located in India, UAE, Poland, Mexico, Egypt and the US.

The company’s new patent technology is a significant move in accord with the environment sustainability standards, ensuring Epoxy Resin preparation without any mandate wastewater treatment requirements. Contrary to the typical manufacturing techniques that are less economical and time taking due to thermal curing, the Epoxy Ester Resin produced by the new technique would involve faster synthesis besides involving more efficient radiation or energy curing.

As per the company’s latest press release, the resin thus produced would offer enhanced coating stability and remarkable chemical and mechanical properties, and this has resulted in a total of 16 claims taken under this patent so far. 

As per the company officials, the issuance of this patent is yet another milestone towards strengthening its product portfolio. Commenting on the achievement, Rajesh Bhasin, Joint President, Chemicals Division, UFlex stated, "We are extremely delighted with the continued strengthening of our R&D prowess. The issuance of this patent is another step in the development of a robust portfolio for our business. This is part of our initiative to backward integrate, using our inherent strength.”

Epoxy Ester resins are popular for their use in coatings, paints and adhesives. The conventional synthesis of Epoxy Ester resin involves a two-stage process- The first is condensation, which involves production of salt as a by-product that is removed by subsequent water washings. Hence, it results in high effluent generation. The wastewater thus produced typically contains Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) levels up to 50,000-95,000 ppm and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) levels up to 50,000-60,000 ppm, which pose the need before the producers to ensure large capital investment and operational expense for the discharged wastewater treatment. The second step involves the conversion of Epoxy resin into Epoxy Ester resin via esterification process which also leads to the formation of undesirable Epoxy Ester resin possessing dark color and odor. 

As per ChemAnalyst,” The news has guarded well the market fundamentals of the Uflex Ltd. which are turning attractive as Epoxy Resins are gaining supremacy over the conventionally used Vinyl Esters and polyesters in the global Flexible Packaging industry. Commenting on the product’s demand-supply dynamics analysts are of the view that the global Epoxy Resin industry is currently witnessing great capacity utilization while upstream Bisphenol-A producers in Asia and Europe are witnessing significantly tightening supply.”