BYK team wins the ALTANA Innovation Award

We are delighted! Our BYK team has won this year’s ALTANA Innovation Award for the successful and sustainable development of PFAS-free defoamers and the corresponding transition of the defoamer portfolio to PFAS-free solutions. Led by BYK CTO Dr. Michael Schmidt (on the right in the photo) and ALTANA AG CTO Dr. Petra Severit (third from the left), the team includes Sven Tenbusch, Dr. Alexander Gers-Barlag, Volker Thyssen-Wallner, and Annika Winkelhausen. They have developed a new generation of sustainable defoamers that contain no forever chemicals and are essential for producing paints and coatings. BYK has been producing entirely PFAS-free products since 2025, making it a pioneer in the industry. The award was presented at the ALTANA Innovation Conference (AICON) in Wesel.