- 01Petro Vietnam to use ecosparc in PERAPHENE coatings
- 02International coatings line validates ecosparc performance
- 03Launch later this year; marine/offshore/infra
Sparc Technologies (ASX: SPN) has confirmed that Petro Vietnam Paint will incorporate Sparc’s flagship ecosparc graphene additive into its PERAPHENE range of steel protective coatings products for use in highly-corrosive environments.
It is the first international coatings product range to adopt ecosparc and reflects growing uptake of the high-performance additive within the global protective coatings market.
Petro’s decision to commercialise ecosparc within PERAPHENE products follows in-house testing and third-party validation which demonstrated improved anti-corrosion performance compared to other graphene materials.
The new range is expected to be commercially available later this year for use in the marine, offshore, industrial and infrastructure markets.
Move to Global Adoption
While the deal does not include binding purchase commitments, Sparc managing director Nick O’Loughlin said it represented a meaningful step towards the global adoption of ecosparc in protective coating applications.
“We are extremely pleased that Petro Vietnam Paint has chosen to incorporate ecosparc within an existing commercial coatings range,” he said.
“This international product release is clear evidence of growing momentum behind the use of ecosparc to enhance the performance and longevity of steel protective coatings.”
“Along with PV Paint’s commentary around the performance of ecosparc, it confirms Sparc’s leadership position in developing and commercialising graphene additives for the global protective coatings market.”
Continuous Material Evaluation
Petro director Vũ Duy Cường said the company had been continuously evaluating graphene materials from around the world to optimise PERAPHENE’S performance and cost-effectiveness.
“We are continuing to evaluate coating systems incorporating ecosparc under even more demanding service conditions with the objective of achieving equivalent or improved performance at lower dry film thicknesses than existing products serving the same applications,” he said.
The two companies commenced discussions around the use of ecosparc in November 2024, and have since collaborated on laboratory testing across multiple coating systems.
“Based on the results achieved to date, we are confident that ecosparc is fully capable of meeting the demanding performance requirements of our PERAPHENE-branded protective coating systems intended for highly corrosive environments,” Mr Cường added.
Recent AkzoNobel Deal
Sparc has spent more than six years on the research and development of ecosparc, with its addition to commercial coating products demonstrating substantial performance improvements to ensure the reliability, longevity, safety, and cost-effectiveness of critical steel infrastructure.
The company recently secured a commercial pathway for the additive through Dutch multinational AkzoNobel’s planned Australian release of an enhanced version of its heavy-duty Interzone 954 protective coating.
The ecosparc-enhanced coating became available to the market in May on a made-to-order basis through AkzoNobel’s local manufacturing facility.
Interzone 954 has been used across offshore oil and gas facilities, offshore wind towers, jetties, sluice gates, and petrochemical plants over more than 25 years.
Get the wire before the market opens.
The ASX small-cap stories that matter, filed before 9am AEST. Curated by the Small Caps desk.