Research & Development
We research with knowledge and enthusiasm and are experts in ecological paints.
"Developing high-quality natural colors takes a lot of experience and time."
Dr. Markus Lettau, Research & Development
How we develop our products
Effective, ecological and safe – our natural paints with their special selection and composition of ingredients combine quality and sustainability. These are the basic properties that our products must have. In addition, they can also be caring, cleansing, authentic and fragrant. This is why we have specialists working in research and development.
We are experts in ecological paints, wood care and cleaning products
Healthy living and a pleasant feel – perfectly achievable with our ecological products. Whether wall paint or wood stain, oil, varnish or cleaner, they not only protect and care for objects, but are also beautiful to look at and good for our well-being. Each product is the result of our many years of expertise in plant chemistry, our know-how of the best ingredients and our intuition for the right interactions.
Active ingredients and effectiveness
We pursue a sustainable approach in the development and selection of active ingredients – effective, high-quality and innovative. With more than 40 years of experience, our current knowledge and expertise and state-of-the-art scientific research methods, the biogenic binder Replebin®, which consists of plant alcohol esters with organic acids, was created in 2015. The raw materials required for this come, for example, from the residues of maize and wheat plants that cannot be used in the food chain. The starch still present in these components is the basis for our raw materials for Replebin® production. The modern binder is used in almost all AURO paints and plasters; it is an essential component and guarantees the excellent quality and sustainability of our products.
What are we researching?
We are working on many technical issues to further promote the use of bio-based paints. This could be an approach to develop new types of flame-retardant paints or to develop systems that use suitable technologies to do without synthetic preservatives in the future. We work together with renowned research institutes on these projects and have even taken on a project this year that is funded by the European Union (Horizon 2020). In this project, we are working on an interdisciplinary basis with researchers and universities in Finland, Sweden, Latvia and Germany.
Graphene-based innovation
The graphene technology
Graphene comes from the mineral graphite, which has been used for centuries and is best known for its use in pencils, for example. It gives coatings and paints their innovative properties, such as resistance, thermal conductivity, flexibility, durability, coverage and homogeneity. This noticeably saves working time and reduces the effort involved in renovation work.
Pioneering colors for facades and interior walls
High-performance quality that impresses – The use of super-flat graphene nets with their outstanding properties in combination with the special paint formulation make the ecological mineral paints Ecolith Interior and Ecolith Exterior a high-performance paint.
The graphene-based innovation is the basis for the products’ competitive edge. It gives the coatings and paints significantly better adhesion, durability and elasticity. Large surfaces are formed in the color matrix to ensure an enormously high coverage.
Ecolith - free from microplastics
The issue of microplastics is playing an increasingly important role in environmental pollution. However, many pollutant influences are not immediately noticeable or recognizable. A Norwegian study* even found that around 17% of the microplastics produced worldwide come from the abrasion of paints and varnishes used outdoors, which are composed of plastic-based binders such as pure acrylate, silicone resins or styrene acrylate. As a result, several tons of these barely filterable plastic particles are released into the environment every year, some of which end up in our bodies. Despite its performance spectrum and thanks to its entirely mineral character, Ecolith is completely free of microplastics or other environmentally harmful ingredients.
* Sources of microplastics-pollution to the marine environment/Norwegian Environment AgencyMiljodirektoaret/2014
Interview with Dr. Markus Lettau, AURO Research & Development
The following interview was conducted by the editors, FARBE UND LACK magazine in April 2020 was conducted.
The use of graphene in lime paints makes it possible to offer this product class in unprecedented quality. The addition of mineral graphene with an immensely high surface area turns the otherwise brittle lime paint into a highly flexible paint. This enables us to achieve a wet abrasion class of 1 and even allow it to be used as a façade paint, which is otherwise not possible with lime paints.
Graphene is based on graphite and forms very thin but extremely large areas that are very flexible. If these are homogeneously distributed in the lime paint, this large-area network stabilizes the lime and the fillers in the paint by enclosing them. It is also virtually chemically inert and able to have a water-repellent effect in the coating. The high flexibility and hydrophobicity give the new Ecolith Exterior and Ecolith Interior their special properties.
The most difficult process during production is due to the special features of the new products described above. Very large particles in terms of surface area, which also have a very high hydrophobicity, must be dispersed homogeneously in an aqueous medium so that they do not separate again in the finished product and the effect is therefore permanent.
There are several manufacturing processes for the production of graphene, ranging from a pure laboratory process to production scale. Consistent product quality is important for the manufacturing process in order to have the dispersion process described above under control in the long term. To ensure sustainability, the graphene for AURO products is obtained from graphite. The manufacturing process is essentially a pyrolysis-based process.
The use of graphene raises the mineral lime products Ecolith to a new, previously unattainable technical level. As our customers are generally very focused on mineral paints, it made sense to use graphene technology to make these products usable for exterior or highly stressful interior applications. At the moment, we are also investigating the use of graphene to positively influence other products. We are currently considering testing effects on paints, varnishes and/or wall paints. However, the challenge here is also to be able to establish the graphene in the formulations in a stable manner. Compared to pure lime paints, however, these products are much more complex in their composition, which does not make the efforts any easier.
Contact for the Ecolith professional system
If you have any questions about the new Ecolit professional system, simply contact the AURO sales representative for the commercial sector:
