Microbial Control Solutions (MCS)

Microbial Control Solutions Overview

Wood Protection

Our wood protection products deliver technologies that enhance the performance and increase the longevity of wood, one of the world’s greatest renewable resources. We manufacture high-quality formulated products that protect wood from mold, insects, fungal decay and fire to help make the most of wood as a sustainable and adaptable construction material. Our proven preservative technologies extend the service life of lumber, ensuring it can be used as a high performance material. Sapstain and mold control treatments keep lumber clean all the way from the sawmill to consumers’ doors. Our heavy-duty industrial offerings protect wood in the harshest environments, including utility, railway, marine and agricultural applications. Our market-leading formulations for glue line protection of strand and veneer-based engineered wood products secure the future of wood against alternative materials. We support our customers with our flagship brands of Wolman^®, Tanalith^®, Dricon^® and AntiBlu^®.

Material Protection

Our Materials Protection business offers solutions that include anti-microbials, corrosion inhibitors, lubricants, and a variety of other specialty additives. These products are used across a range of industries including Metal Working Fluids, Powdered Metal, Polymers and Textiles, and Oil and Gas. Our Metal Working Fluid products, such as Densil^®, Omacide^®, Proxel^®, Lonzabac^® and Vanquish^® protect our customers fluid systems from harmful bacteria and fungi, lengthening the use of a fluid system therefore providing sustainable solutions, that reduces system costs and waste. Our Arcawax^® Powdered Metal lubricants are recognized as the high quality industry standard lubricant, reducing the likelihood of wasted materials and increasing our customers manufacturing efficiency.

Over the last four decades, products made from polymer blends are becoming an increasing part of a consumer’s life. We have served the polymer industry with unique customer-specific product solutions of high quality and consistency. These additives, such as Acrawax^®, Glycolube^® and Glycomul^® are either protecting the polymer matrix (for e.g. lubricants) or are providing a unique property to the overall system such as its anti-static, anti-fogging effect. Typical examples for end applications would be car interior & under the hood, consumer electronics, ophthalmic and medical devices.

Our anti-microbial products, in particular Vanquish^® and Zinc Omadine^® are also additives of choice in applications such as carpet backing, bath mats, shower curtains, wallboards, plastic fencing, roof tiles etc. A growing consumer trend in the textile industry, specifically in sports active wear is to have anti-microbial additives as part of the formulation to minimize the bad odors caused by the bacteria from perspiration. Our products are part of a significant number of premium athletic brands.

In the Oil and Gas market, we provide high performance biocides, such as Bardac^®, Barquat^®, Vantocil^® and Dantogard^®, corrosion inhibitors Uniquat^®, Akolidine^® and hydrogen sulfide scavengers SourBan^®, that are used to protect oil and gas production systems from aggressive corrosion conditions.

Paints & Coatings

We are a global leader for Paints & Coatings which includes providing wet state preservation for waterborne architectural paint and other formulations in the building and construction market space. Additionally, we play a critical role in the protection of marine vessels from marine antifouling and offer best in class technology for paint dry film protection against defacement from algae and fungi. We are an innovation leader by providing effective solutions that are oriented to microbial control versus just biocides. Innovation efforts include providing slow release technologies and an increasing focus on using inert raw materials to provide efficacy in coating systems.

Customers know us through the global brands of Proxel^®, Omadine^®, Densil^® and Umigard^®. Each brand conveys our leadership position in the various applications for microbial control ranging from protection on a home owner facade to the hull of an ocean going vessel.

Professional Hygiene

As a global leader in registered biocides, preservatives and antimicrobial formulations, our hygiene business offers solutions for disinfecting and sanitizing surfaces in industrial and institutional settings. This includes schools, food-processing plants, restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, operating theaters and health clinics. Our products help prevent the spread of infection and are available in a range of formats, including concentrates and ready-to-use liquids, wipes, and solids. Our global registrations portfolio includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Canadian Therapeutic Products Directorate (TPD), the EU Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) and the China and Japan Ministries of Health, as well as many other regulatory agencies around the world.

We also provide regulatory and toxicology expertise, supporting compliance with global regulatory regimes. Our robust data packages and innovative, market-focused research and technology offerings enable our customers to stay at the forefront of industry developments. Product innovation and strong regulatory leadership will continue to be the strategic cornerstones of our professional hygiene offering together with our high levels of customer support.

Home & Personal Care

Within Home Care, our focus remains on ensuring that our homes remain healthy places, by providing new and innovative solutions to clean, sanitize and disinfect our rooms and surfaces. Our innovative research and development (R&D) programs, aligned with industry-leading regulatory and toxicology expertise, allow us to offer convenient and effective solutions to the many microbial challenges we face in the home.

Our Personal Care business serves the global beauty and wellbeing markets. We are the leading producer of dandruff-fighting ingredients, built on Zinc Pyrithione – the world’s most recognized and widely accepted anti-dandruff active. In addition, our Zinc Omadine^® brand is recognized as the global standard for cosmetic anti-dandruff treatment products.

We further strengthen our position with well-established and next generation preservation systems, as well as our functional ingredients, such as specialty plant-based emulsifiers and aesthetic modifiers across all of personal care formulations.

With custom-developed biological fermentation and technologies perfected for pharmaceutical companies, the personal care team continues to deliver premium-positioned bio-active functionals, which enhances the consumer experience and uniquely improves the performance of finished products targeting leave-on skin and scalp care.

Crop Protection

Our Crop Protection business offers customers a range of agro-chemistry and formulations for global agricultural markets. We have a leading position in the supply of Meta^® Metaldehyde, the active of choice for controlling mollusks. We have invested significantly in registration packages across the world. To support the farming community, we have also extended our molluscicide offer to include Axcela^® pellets, a ready-formulated product for use in a wide range of global agricultural needs.

Developed in collaboration with our distribution partners in different regions, we have an ever-increasing range of products to help farmers maximize the effectiveness of their crop protection products. We offer crop-protecting fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, foliar nutrients and additives. To provide full support to the farming community, we also offer post-harvest sanitation solutions such as FREXUS^®. This line of products ensures effective sanitization in the food, beverage and farming industries.

Leveraging Technology Platforms, Expertise and Assets

Highlights and Initiatives 2019

While general demand for microbial control applications was solid in 2019, the Microbial Control Solutions business saw mixed performance, which was related to its various end-markets.

Wood Protection

During 2019, Wood protection experienced stable demand, but saw an increased competitive environment and pricing pressure, especially in the US market.

The increasingly stringent regulatory landscape in the European wood protection market, combined with the ongoing Biocidal Products Directive (BPR) evaluation of creosote (a common preservative system used for high-performance timber applications), has generated increased market interest in modern technologies such as our new Tanasote^® preservative. Tanasote^® is an innovative oil-based alternative to traditional creosote, expected to be available by the end of 2020.

We successfully launched another new high-performance preservative formulation, Tanalith^® K, for the treatment of utility poles, agricultural timbers, and other industrial products in Oceania. The product was launched with a flagship customer in 2019, providing the foundation for further rollout in 2020.

We have also expanded the geographic offering of our existing technologies, including our Excalibur^TM incising equipment and Auto-Treater^TM process control systems, to drive steady growth in targeted regions such as the Nordics, France and United Kingdom. We experienced further growth in the residential retail sector in North America through collaborative marketing partnerships with wood treatment customers and the big box retail channel.

Material Protection

In 2019, Polymers and Textiles faced softer market demand from the automobile industry and still suffered from a suboptimal supply of a BIT (1,2-Benzisothiazolin-3-one)-related intermediate. BIT supply began to regain stability in H2 2019 and Lonza expects a fully restored supply by the end of H1 2020.

Oil and Gas industry solutions performed strongly in 2019; these include corrosion inhibitors and biocides to protect vital operation systems. We launched a new oil and gas biocide, Bardac^® 2210 Biocide, providing large cost performance improvements and significant lead time reductions with last leg field logistics. Leveraging our deep technical capabilities, the industrial team deployed novel rapid Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) speciation techniques to help customers make better decisions about protecting their assets while concurrently reducing costs.

Moreover, we announced the approval of Densil^® DN and Densil^® DG-45 antimicrobials, by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use in all metalworking fluid systems. The Densil^® DN and Densil^® DG-45 products are globally recognized fungicides with a proven performance record. These antimicrobials are chemically stable over broad pH and temperature ranges, effective in systems with a high level of bacterial contamination and compatible with a variety of metalworking fluids and amine systems.

Paints & Coatings

Paints & Coatings showed good performance during the reporting year, despite the shortage of key raw material BIT.

In response to future global methylisothiazolinone (MIT)-label restrictions in biocide formulations, we introduced two new additions to the Proxel^® range of preservatives. Proxel^® LSR and Proxel^® HBC Preservatives are dual-active, broad-spectrum biocides for wet-state preservation of water-based paints, adhesives and construction chemicals.

Professional Hygiene

Professional Hygiene saw positive performance in 2019, with continued strong disinfection sales into veterinary, biosecurity, food service and wipes.

In 2019, we expanded our hygiene offerings into the Indian and Middle Eastern markets to meet the increasing hygiene needs and standards resulting from socio-demographic, macro-economic and regulatory changes.

As part of our customer support program, we introduced new additions to our professional hygiene offerings. One example is our first hydrogen peroxide based hard surface disinfectant. Hydrogen peroxide is a sustainable active that breaks down naturally into water and oxygen. The NUGEN^® EHP platform offers environmentally sustainable disinfection to consumers and cleaning professionals, who want to use more sustainable cleaning solutions without compromising core-cleaning performance. We have also expanded our hand hygiene offerings to include a Non-Alcohol Hand Sanitizer concentrate.

Our European Professional Hygiene business in the EMEA region continued to grow well above market average, mainly driven by the further implementation of our market-tailored “Survive the BPR^®” initiatives. The value offered through our “Formulated Solutions” program has been well received by the market, and adopted by a steadily increasing number of customers. The initiative mainly targets mid-sized and smaller accounts which are looking to market biocidal products under their own brand, but for which we take care of all regulatory and technical support, ranging from product development to market authorization under the BPR. Customers may manufacture the biocidal end-use product in their own facilities under a license agreement, or purchase the readily formulated product directly. Our “Premium Support” initiative is targeted to key accounts in the hygiene market, building on our regulatory and technical expertise in the field of biocides. Customers value our specialist support to assure authorization of their products.

The list of tools to effectively manage pathogens that move with people, animals and food, is getting smaller. This is why we have started a holistic advocacy program aiming to educate consumers, users and scientists about the existing data that answers questions around human health, environmental fate, human toxicity and microbial resistance. An example is our current partnership with Manchester University, which is partially funded by the United Kingdom government to dispel the concerns surrounding Quaternary Ammonium Compounds resistance.

Home & Personal Care

During the reporting year, the Home & Personal Care business continued innovating in chemistries, applications and differentiated offerings. Home care disinfection saw positive performance in 2019, while Personal care preservation ended the year soft but saw an uptake in H2.

Driven by changing requirements of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which have caused increasing moves away from Triclosan, we successfully introduced an effective microbial-control alternative - Lonzagard^® BKC cGMP - to the home care market. Produced under current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) to meet the stringent US FDA regulatory requirements as a hand care antimicrobial active ingredient as well as a personal care or pharmaceutical preservative. In addition, during 2019, Lonza continued to invest in the development of Safety and Efficacy data required by the FDA for maintaining this hand hygiene tool for its use against microbial pathogens. These efforts allowed us to secure and renew long term agreements with multiple customers in consumer and professional service markets.

Globally, we have invested significantly in our consumer laundry hygiene program, helping to reduce energy and water consumption. Reductions in wash temperatures, coupled with lower water usage and shorter cycle times, have reduced the removal of micro-organisms during the washing process, leading to increases in the need for hygienic laundry products. Driven through our United Kingdom-based laundry development center, we have become an advanced and growing supplier of antimicrobial solutions in this area, currently best exemplified by our widely used Bardac^® 2080 active ingredient.

In response to the changing and increasing regulatory requirements of home care preservation, we have repositioned our Sodium Omadine^® antimicrobial, a preservative active, providing a viable isothiazolinone-free and solvent-free offer for formulators used in household products, such as laundry care, surface cleaning and air care.

As a leading anti-dandruff active supplier, we continue to innovate and expand our presence in the Personal Care market. Our anti-dandruff platform was successfully expanded in 2019 with pickup of supply in Europe. Our newest offering Piroctone Olamine, broadened our portfolio of anti-dandruff actives, supporting our position as a key partner for scalp health brands worldwide.

Helping our customers to develop consumer products that meet the latest global consumer trends, we have broadened our portfolio with four new offerings:

• The SYNETH^TM range of naturally derived polyglycerol esters provides extremely versatile, nonionic emulsifiers and surfactants. They are designed to help formulators strike the perfect balance between functionality, aesthetics and mildness in skin and haircare products.
• Our H2OBioEV^® bioactive functional is an innovative ingredient for skin rejuvenation. It is a multifunctional cosmetic ingredient that helps revitalize, rejuvenate and moisturize skin, for a healthier, more radiant and smoother look.
• The Modifect^® EV bioactive functional is a multifunctional cosmetic ingredient designed to help provide a more youthful appearance. It helps to detoxify and fortify the skin against oxidative damage, showing a reduction in the appearence of age spots, a smoother skin texture.
• The NAB^® Rhodiola Extract bioactive functional is a multifunctional adaptogenic plant extract, well-known for helping to protect the skin against the stresses of modern urban life.

Crop Protection

Crop Protection, especially molluscicides, faced ongoing customer destocking after a dry 2018 summer in Europe, aggressive competition from China and further dry weather in 2019.

During 2019, we successfully gained label extensions in a number of key agricultural and horticultural products. Label expansion includes the use of the fungicide Esteem^® in grapes for wine production. This enables growers to control powdery mildew and suppress botrytis throughout the growing season. Other examples include Foschek^® as a foliar application in avocados and the herbicide Oxy 500 for post plant pre-emergence weed control in potatoes.

The first important milestone has been reached in the USA with the registration of Barrachlor^TM (Chlorothalonil). This is the first product coming out of our crop protection geographical expansion project.

After a successful launch in Q2 in Malaysia, the tank-mix adjuvants for crop protection — Celenco^TM Ag+ has been further rolled out in Thailand. We will continue to expand the Celenco^TM portfolio in Brazil by adding two new tank-mix products for herbicides based on water and oil.

The successful launch of our ready formulated Axcela^® for slug and snail control in New Zealand in 2018 has been rewarded with first sales growth during 2019. In Australia we have successfully obtained registration for Axcela^®. Label expansions for Metaldehyde formulations were also successful in Brazil and Japan in 2019.