ICP has developed a powerful antiviral and antimicrobial coating using Swiss technology, and based on an idea from Sam Neal.

International coatings company ICP is launching an antimicrobial and antiviral aqueous coating with the ability to protect against Covid-19, influenza and other illnesses that can be spread through touch.

The Viroblock coating uses a technology from HeiQ that was initially developed for health workers in Africa during the Ebola pandemic in 2014. Masks that were coated then remain effective in preventing infection.

The double-action product was developed to coat hard surfaces and textiles. It includes silver chloride, well known for its antibiotic properties and a vesicle technology that attacks the surface of the virus or bacteria allowing the silver to be more effective. 

For these reasons, it has been used in face masks and a surface spray and not as a coating for paper. That is until Sam Neal, CEO of Geoff Neal Group, approached HeiQ with this proposal. The Swiss company agreed and ICP, the owner of former Heidelberg subsidiary HiTech Coatings, began work on combining the water-based HeiQ product and its own aqueous coatings. 

By March the formulation had been settled and machine testing completed. But HeiQ wanted to agree to a protocol so that any competent independent lab could test the effectiveness of a coated surface. With other protective coatings, samples have to be sent back to the supplier of the coating for testings, amounting to someone marking their own homework. And Viroblock is supplied ready-mixed, avoiding the need for a printer to mix his own coatings.

Applications will include posters, magazine and book covers, especially for schools, and retail packaging – anywhere where products might be touched multiple times. A shield logo has been designed to mark where products have Viroblock applied.

The coating will run in litho, flexo and gravure presses. An energy cured version will be introduced in the next few months, opening more opportunities in packaging. Conversations have already started with brands and retailers, other organisations will follow.

Claire Ashby, product marketing manager at ICP, says: There is no change in the way that the coating is handled to a standard coating, no change to film weights or drying, no effect on the print quality, and it is food contact approved so suited to on-shelf packaging.

And the financial impact will be minimal, with no impact on existing business models. Neal says: This is a clever product that we have tested on all types of papers to show that it will work. It is relatively simple to use, makes sense from an operational and economic point of view so will not destroy the price point of a final product, and there is no taint or discolouration. You would not know you were coating with it.

Opracowano na podstawie informacji opublikowanych na portalu Print Business