CPI celebrates polyurethane trail blazers with industry awards

Atlanta, GA – The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) 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, Ga.

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, 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 (GWP) 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, Advanced Product & 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 (CO2) 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, Ga., the other two being Huntsman and Incorez.

At the 2024 Polyurethanes Technical Conference, CPI announced 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, ACC’s Plastics Division. “CPI is immensely grateful for Lisa’s commitment, knowledge and leadership over the years to CPI and the industry overall.”
Lisa Massaro-Kustuch’s experience in the polyurethanes industry goes back more than a decade, and she currently serves as Global Advocacy & Product Stewardship Manager at DuPont supporting the DuPont Performance Building Solutions business. Previously she was at the Dow Chemical Company as the Environmental Health & Safety Product Stewardship Manager supporting Dow Building Solutions and Dow Building & Construction.
Lisa’s numerous contributions to CPI include a prominent role in CPI’s ongoing discussions with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) 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 adopted by Canadian authorities in 2020. Her work has been recognized with the “Best Paper” award three times at previous Polyurethanes Technical Conferences.