Henkel wins Altair Enlighten Award for metal pretreatment process

Madison Heights, Mich.-based Henkel has received the second-place award in the sustainability category of the 2021 Altair Enlighten Awards, which recognizes sustainability and lightweighting advancements in the automotive industry. Specifically, Henkel’s award recognizes the use of the PALLUMINA metal pretreatment process on the 2021 Toyota Tacoma and Tundra.

This pretreatment process, used on more than 4 million vehicles each year, enables paint adhesion to the vehicle body while preventing corrosion. It reduces the manufacturing steps of a conventional metal pretreatment process from seven to four, according to the company, and eliminates heavy metal phosphates, such as zinc phosphate, nickel phosphate, and manganese phosphate. The process also reduces sludge generation up to 90%, cuts energy usage up to 40%, and decreases water usage up to 50%, according to the company.