The National Science Foundation (NSF) has granted Ecosil Technologies LLC funding for a two-year program to further demonstrate SILSBOND, the company's innovative and environmentally friendly metal surface treatment product. This grant is a Phase II award that follows a Phase I program that provided for the initial development of an improved metal pretreatment product. The new program will be conducted at the company's Fairfield, OH headquarters, and will be led by the principal investigator, Dr. William Vanooij, the company's chief technology officer. SBIR Programs (Small Business Innovation Research Program), are funded by various agencies of the US federal government such as the NSF in areas such as energy, the environment, advanced materials and other key areas to assist small companies with the research and commercialization of new technologies. The Ecosil SBIR project began on April 1, 2012, and will continue until March 2014.

Metal surface pretreatment technologies are used in the manufacturing industry to modify the surface of the metal to improve the corrosion resistance and paint adhesion properties of the metals. Traditionally, the processes used to accomplish this surface treatment contained chrome, zinc and phosphates which produced significant quantities of hazardous waste, and often required a significant input of energy. SILSBOND is a silicon-based product that contains no hazardous metals or toxic substances, significantly reduces the cost of the metal processing by eliminating treatment steps, and significantly reduces energy consumption. Max Sorenson, Ecosil's CEO, states that, "This grant will allow us to construct a pilot plant that will be instrumental in demonstrating SILSBOND on a variety of metal types and in combination with a number of paint types applied over the SILSBOND surface." Ecosil is partnering with several universities, major paint and coating producers, and product distributors to accomplish the program goal of broad commercialization of this family of advanced pretreatment chemical products.