Power of SUNY

SUNY ESF Center to Aid Manufacturing

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) and RadTech International announced in May 2011 the establishment of a research, development and industrial testing center to help make manufacturing processes in New York more energy efficient, environmentally friendly and economical.

NYSERDA will provide nearly $1 million in funding for the Ultraviolet Light (UV) and Electron Beam (EB) Process Curing Systems Technology Center on the ESF campus. The goal is to develop environmentally friendly ways to make an assortment of coatings and resins dry more quickly - nearly instantaneously - thereby reducing both costs and emissions while streamlining manufacturing processes.

The center will help development formulas that produce little to no harmful emissions in the manufacture and application of inks, paints and coatings, as well as resin binders used in the fabrication of composite materials such as fiberglass composites used to make wind turbine blades. The facility will allow manufacturers to test the UV and EB technologies to see how they can apply the new technologies to their businesses before investing in equipment. Cost savings with UV and EB processes are typically significant enough that the equipment pays for itself within two or three years, he said. Driscoll's co-director will be Dr. Jennifer Smith of ESF's Department of Sustainable Construction Management and Engineering.

Industrial partners in the project include Knowlton Technologies of Watertown, a manufacturer of engineered composites and wet-laid non-woven materials; Transparent Materials of Rochester, a manufacturer of surface functionalized, self assembling nanomaterials for dental and biomedical composites; IBA Industrial of Long Island, an electron beam equipment manufacturer; and MAS Associates of Indian Lake, a manufacturer of data acquisition and automation systems.