On Oct. 2, the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry of the American Chemistry Council announced the recipients of two prestigious industry awards – the 2024 Polyurethane Innovation Award and the 2024 Distinguished Leadership Award. Both awards were presented during the closing session at the 2024 Polyurethanes Technical Conference in Atlanta.

Woodbridge Receives 2024 Polyurethane Innovation Award

The winner of the 2024 Polyurethane Innovation Award is Woodbridge. The top industry honor recognizes companies whose visions and perseverance bring new innovative, life-enhancing products, technologies and initiatives to the marketplace. Eligible innovations must have entered the market for the first time between June 19, 2022, and June 20, 2024.

“CPI congratulates Woodbridge on this remarkable achievement,” said Jason Sloan, director of CPI. “Sustainability is at the top-of-mind for manufacturers and the value chain. Woodbridge’s TrimVisible BIO illustrates how polyurethanes are helping drive progress with durable solutions, and CPI is proud to recognize and honor Woodbridge on this cutting-edge innovation.”

Woodbridge describes its winning entry as: “TrimVisible BIO combines biogenic carbon from forest residue with high-performance, polyurethane seating foam chemistry. This exclusive technology reduces automotive seating foam’s overall global warming potential by displacing traditional urethane chemical components. This technology is available in automotive seating, ensuring that performance and comfort are not compromised.”

“We are pleased that Woodbridge has been honored with the prestigious CPI Award,” said Mike Irwin, VP of advanced product and chemical technology at Woodbridge. “Our scientists have developed a proprietary process to seamlessly integrate biogenic carbon (biocarbon) into our top-of-the-line, polyurethane seating foam chemistry. The result is TrimVisible BIO, a novel product that reduces the carbon dioxide footprint from cradle to gate and maintains our seating foam’s material properties, performance and comfort. This innovative technology is a pivotal step towards significantly reducing the CO² footprint throughout the lifetime of vehicles.”

This year, three finalists were selected to present their products at the 2024 Polyurethanes Technical Conference in Atlanta, the other two being Huntsman and Incorez. Read the entry descriptions from Huntsman and Incorez here.

CPI Recognizes DuPont’s Lisa Massaro-Kustuch with 2024 Distinguished Leadership Award

At the 2024 Polyurethanes Technical Conference, CPI announced that the recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Leadership Award is Lisa Massaro-Kustuch of DuPont.

CPI established the Distinguished Leadership Award to recognize individuals who have provided outstanding leadership and advanced the goals of CPI, as well as the interests of the industry.

“CPI congratulates Lisa and recognizes her invaluable role, helping to champion progress for our industry,” said Lee Salamone, senior director of ACC’s plastics division. “CPI is immensely grateful for Lisa’s commitment, knowledge and leadership over the years to CPI and the industry overall.”

Massaro-Kustuch’s experience in the polyurethanes industry goes back more than a decade, and she currently serves as global advocacy and product stewardship manager at DuPont, supporting the DuPont Performance Building Solutions business. Previously, she was at the Dow Chemical Company as the environmental health and safety product stewardship manager, supporting Dow Building Solutions and Dow Building & Construction.

Massaro-Kustuch’s numerous contributions to CPI include a prominent role in CPI’s ongoing discussions with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control regarding the Safer Consumer Products regulation of spray foam. Since 2020, she’s served as chair of CPI’s Blowing Agents Workgroup and played a critical part in the establishment of a code of practice for low-pressure, two-component spray polyurethane foam products, which was adopted by Canadian authorities in 2020. Her work has been recognized with the “Best Paper” award three times at previous Polyurethanes Technical Conferences.