GOING GREEN
Special publication from PPCJ & APCJ October 2018
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION, REGULATIONS & REGIONAL UPDATES FOR THE GLOBAL PAINTS & COATINGS INDUSTRY
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GOING GREEN
Johnson Ongking, Pacific Paint (Boysen), details why the Asian coating industry needs to eliminate lead paint before it can truly be considered green
We can’t be green until lead is out of the scene
W
hile the paint industry in Asia Pacific continues to make advances in sustainability with greener products, one thing threatens to overshadow all these eco-friendly paint innovations – the continued sales of lead paint. Although the hazards of lead paint are well known and their use has been restricted in most of the developed world for 40 years, they remain a hidden danger for Asian children and workers. Paint studies conducted by the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) show that lead paint is prevalent in many Asian countries (Table 1) and this poses a toxic threat to the future of the region’s children, economies and the paint industry itself. “Many people were shocked when they discovered that this obsolete, hazardous technology was still widely used in Asia,” said Dr Sara Brosché, IPEN’s Global Lead Paint Elimination Campaign Manager. “I think the root cause in many countries has simply been lack of awareness. Because of this unawareness, consumers have not known to demand paint without lead, manufacturers that started their production when lead was the standard technology have continued with business as usual and policy makers have not known to adopt bans on lead paint.” “The problem remains largely hidden from view,” said Perry Gottesfeld, Executive Director of USA-based Occupational Knowledge International (OKI). “Few paints that contain lead are labelled accordingly and few of the people affected have noticeable symptoms. As a result, most of the millions of exposed children and adults are never identified as having lead poisoning.” Unfortunately, when it comes to lead paint, what you don’t know can hurt you – especially for children.
nnLEAD PAINT – LOWERING
IQS, LOWERING INCOMES
The hazards of lead paint have been known for a long time. Benjamin Franklin warned about the hazards of lead exposure in a letter back in 17861. An Australian study in 1904 found lead paint as a cause of childhood lead poisoning and some
European countries banned white lead paint in 1909, with the International Labour Organization instituting a similar ban in 1921. The USA restricted the use of lead in residential paint in 1977 by instituting a 600 parts per million (ppm) limit, which it lowered to 90ppm in 20092. But the damage from lead paint continues long after its ban. “Lead in paint is a major source of childhood lead exposure, particularly in the home,” said Joanna Tempowski, Scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO). “As lead paint ages it creates flakes and dust that settle on surfaces in home. Young children consume this lead-contaminated dust when they put their hands and other objects in their mouths and some children actively pick off and eat lead paint flakes from painted surfaces. Studies in France and the USA have shown that children living in old housing with lead paint have higher blood lead levels than other children.” A study in 2002 found that a quarter of the country’s housing units
have significant lead-paint hazards. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that about half a million children under the age of five have elevated blood lead levels. Scientists say lead paint is the primary cause 3. “Exposure to lead from paint matters because there is no known safe exposure level for lead” said Tempowski. “Even low levels of exposure in young children can interfere with intellectual and behavioural development, potentially resulting in lower intelligence quotient (IQ) scores, attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), poor school performance and increased risk of criminal behaviour in adulthood. Children are especially vulnerable because they absorb four to five times more lead than adults, but adults can also be harmed by lead exposure. Lead exposure contributes to the development of heart disease and stroke later in life. Pregnant women are another vulnerable group, as their lead exposure is transferred to the developing foetus.”
Table 1. Lead paint data from IPEN paint studies in Asia Pacific. Source: IPEN, Lead in Solvent-
Based Paints for Home Use Global Report, October 2017
Country
Results from most recent paint study Year
No of paints/ brands analysed
% of paints > 90ppm lead
% of paints > 10,000ppm lead
Bangladesh
2015
56 / 24
77%
34%
China
2016
141 / 47
50%
34%
India
2015
101 / 64
95%
46%
Indonesia
2015
121 / 63
63%
41%
Jordan
2012
17 / 16
18%
0%
Lebanon
2015
15 / 6
80%
53%
Malaysia
2016
39 / 18
41%
31%
Mongolia
2017
56 / 25
70%
20%
Nepal
2015
87 / 35
89%
44%
Pakistan
2017
58 / 21
60%
24%
Philippines
2017
104 / 54
23%
12%
Singapore
2009
41 / 7
44%
7%
Sri Lanka
2015
56 / 37
46%
21%
Taiwan
2016
47 / 8
66%
47%
Thailand
2015
100 / 56
62%
40%
Vietnam
2016
26 / 11
54%
19%
1 PPCJ & APCJ • October 2018 www.coatingsgroup.com
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GOING GREEN “Eliminating lead paint is an urgent issue,” said Walker Smith, Director of Global Affairs and Policy at the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “It is a major source of lead exposure for children globally, causing permanently lower IQs and behavioural problems. Childhood lead exposure has staggering economic costs.” In fact, a study done by the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine estimates that the economic cost of childhood lead exposure from all sources in low- and middleincome countries due to lower IQ is estimated at US$977bn/yr4. Asia, the largest coatings market in the world today, bears more than 70% of that total – US$699.9bn, equivalent to almost 2% of regional GDP. “If a child comes back with one IQ point loss, the parent doesn’t notice,” said Leonardo Trasande, a renowned leader in children’s environmental health and lead author of the NYU study. “But if 100,000 kids come back with one less IQ point, the economy notices.” Trasande estimates that every IQ point lost costs a child 2% of their lifetime earning potential. These cost estimates do not even include the many people who die from lead poisoning. “The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimated that in 2016 lead exposure accounted for 544,000 deaths due to long-term effects on health, with the highest burden in low and middleincome countries,” noted Desiree MontecilloNarvaez, Focal Point on “Lead” Programme Officer at the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment). So ironically, while some paint companies claim they can’t afford to move away from lead paint because it would make their products more expensive, from a societal point of view, low- and middle-income countries can’t afford NOT to eliminate lead paint if they hope to fully achieve their economic growth potential.
nnA LAW TO CORRECT A MARKET FLAW
Despite the proven damage and significant costs for abatement of lead paint in the USA, most of Asia seems to have no urgency to stop the continued use of lead paint. And the longer lead paint continues to be a presence in Asia, the greater the damage lurking for the region’s future. “With the rapidly growing paint market in Asia and many other regions it is vital to act early in order to prevent widespread lead paint exposure and its costly consequences and expensive remediation,” said IPEN’s Brosché. “With a few exceptions, local manufacturers and national paint associations have been very supportive of this effort once they understand the harm
The four paint brands manufactured by Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc were among the first in the world to achieve Lead Safe® Paint Certification
lead paint exposure does to children. They see that it is the future of the children in their own communities that is at stake.” Manufacturers who become aware of the dangers of lead paint would almost certainly not want to apply it in their own homes, nor that of their customers. But even when manufacturers see the need to stop making lead paint, many hesitate to stop for fear that converting to lead-free alternatives would make their formulations more expensive and, thus, lose sales relative to competitors that don’t make the switch. While substituting lead driers with zirconium or strontium driers is straightforward and has a negligible cost impact, maintaining similar costs while converting from lead chromate to organic pigments is more challenging, especially in some markets like Indonesia where enamel paints are sold at the same price regardless of colour. In such situations, companies face the following choices: accept a lower margin while maintaining the selling price; increase their sales price; or maintain the status quo. While some manufacturers are able to see the bigger picture, in that having a completely lead-free product line can enhance consumer trust in their brand and ultimately result in a healthier business through a halo effect, most companies are likely to choose the status quo. Left on its own without regulation, market incentives favour the continued sales of lead paint despite its huge costs to society. In countries where national paint
associations are strong, it is possible to have member companies jointly agree to eliminate lead paint together – this recently happened when 17 members of the Malaysian Paint Manufacturers’ Association (MPMA) pledged to eliminate lead in decorative paint by 2018 and in all paints by 2020. However, to ensure such agreements are permanently binding, having enforceable lead paint regulations is still necessary to ensure that all manufacturers abide by the same rules. “Lead paint laws are the only effective way to eliminate lead paint,” said Smith of the EPA, which chairs the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (also known as the Lead Paint Alliance), a voluntary partnership formed in 2009 when a UN conference with over 120 countries participating unanimously voted to eliminate all lead paint. The alliance, which is jointly led by the WHO and the UN Environment, has adopted the goal of banning lead paint in all countries by 2020. One of the countries that has successfully implemented a legal limit of 90ppm for lead in paint for both architectural and industrial paints is the Philippines, which has seen a dramatic decrease of lead containing paints based on studies conducted by IPEN together with partner EcoWaste Coalition5. “The effort in the Philippines to ban lead paint has become a model showcased around the world since it so successfully resulted in one of the strongest regulations in the world, with a 90ppm lead limit for all types of paint,” said IPEN’s Brosché. “The key to the success was the willingness of policy makers, industry and civil society to collaborate towards the joint goal of eliminating lead paint to protect future generations.” “What’s unique is that the Philippine Association of Paint Manufacturers (PAPM) not only agreed to a lead paint regulation, they were actively promoting it. They have been leading by example ever since, showing that not only is it possible for manufacturers in all countries to replace lead in all paint, it is the right thing to do to ensure a brighter future for generations to come.” Aside from the Philippines, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand have adopted regulatory controls to ban the use of lead in paint since IPEN started its lead paint elimination project in Asia in 2008 – joining Australia, China and New Zealand (Table 2). However, that still means 80% of countries in Asia Pacific currently do not have any kind of legal restrictions on lead paint, although Cambodia and Laos are in the process of drafting regulations against lead paint. The need to eliminate lead in all paint and not just decorative paint is important, as all types of paints have been linked to lead poisoning sometimes when workers take lead dust home from construction jobs 6. “Even so-
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GOING GREEN called ‘industrial’ paints can be applied on products sold to consumers or on structures in residential communities,” said OKI’s Gottesfeld. “Toys and furniture from Asia have been recalled in the USA and other countries due to the presence of lead paint. Many outdoor structures with lead paint including bridges, utility poles and water tanks have caused lead poisoning among painters and other construction workers and have resulted in soil contamination in residential communities. Most government regulations in Asia fail to include these applications although they have serious public health implications.”
nnLEAD PAINT DOESN’T MAKE
Table 2. Countries in Asia and the Pacific region with lead paint regulation (as of August 2018). Source: UN Environment, Update on the Global Status of Legal Limits on Lead in Paint, September 2017
Australia
1000ppm lead limit for the sale, manufacture, export and import of all paints.
China
90ppm soluble lead concentration limit for decorative, household and automotive paint. 1000ppm soluble lead limit, depending on the use of the paint.
India
90ppm lead limit for manufacture, trade, import and export of household and decorative paints.
Nepal
90ppm lead limit for any paint imported, produced, sold or used.
New Zealand
1000ppm lead limit for the sale, manufacture, export and import of all paints.
Philippines
90ppm lead limit for architectural, decorative, household and industrial paint.
Sri Lanka
90ppm lead limit for interior and exterior emulsion paint or 600ppm lead limit for floor and enamel paint. Paints used in the building industry that contain lead must be labelled as such, including the lead content.
Thailand
100ppm lead limit for all paint.
SENSE – OR CENTS
Lead paint is not just costly for society, it is potentially very costly to the paint industry in several ways. While people that work in the industry know that lead is only used in certain colours and products in solventbased paints, most consumers are unaware of this. As a result, if they were to hear of a paint brand using lead in their product, they would likely associate the use of lead with the entire paint brand. Moreover, in this age of social media, the association of a paint brand with lead poisoning of children could cause quick and severe damage to a company’s most important asset – its brand equity. This would create a loss of trust in a paint brand that would be difficult to quickly recover from and could potentially affect sales for many years. Considering that lead containing solvent-based paints are usually a relatively small proportion of a decorative paint company’s total paint sales, the possibility that they can damage a brand’s reputation and affect sales of all its product lines presents a disproportionally high risk to companies. On the other hand, companies that can credibly show the public that they do not produce any lead paint may gain a halo effect that increases consumer trust and generates long term sales that more than offset any lost revenue from discontinued lead paint. For this purpose, IPEN teamed up with USA-based SCS Global Services to provide a Lead Safe Paint® certification, the first global third party certification programme that ensures consumers that the lead content of their products does not exceed the regulatory limit of 90ppm, for their paint brands. The four paint brands manufactured by our company (Boysen, Virtuoso, Titan and Nation), as well as Davies (Philippines), Multilac (Sri Lanka) and Elite (Bangladesh), are the first paint brands to secure Lead Safe Paint® certification. “Their early support of the Lead Safe Paint certification showed that removing lead
Table 3. Countries with limits on total lead paint concentration (as of September 2017) *Limit applies to soluble lead content only. Note: 36 countries regulate lead paint through chemical-specific regulatory limits, such as members of the European Union
Source: UN Environment, Update on the Global Status of Legal Limits on Lead in Paint, September 2017
90ppm
100ppm
600ppm
1000ppm or higher
Canada China* India Kenya Nepal Philippines USA
Switzerland Thailand United Republic of Tanzania
Argentina Brazil Chile Costa Rica Dominica Guyana Jordan Mexico Oman Panama South Africa Sri Lanka Trinidad & Tobago Uruguay
Algeria Armenia Australia Belarus Cuba New Zealand Russia
from their paint was not only the right thing to do but also a smart business decision,” said IPEN’s Brosché. “Their certified paints now empower consumers to buy cans where an independent third party has verified that they contain no added lead, where most other such claims are self-made and not always trustworthy. We have seen paint with unverified claims of ‘lead-free’ containing more than 10% lead.” Unlike most paints, where ageing and peeling provides an opportunity for a new sale, the application of lead paint requires costly lead abatement programmes to permanently eliminate its public health hazards. Estimated costs for remediating homes with lead-based paints range from US$194-US$499M in France to US$1US$11bn in the USA7. Many lawsuits relating to lead paints have been filed in the USA and a paint manufacturer in California recently agreed to pay US$60M for lead remediation efforts to settle a litigation case.
Given the potential damage of lead paint to the industry’s reputation, we should pro-actively initiate efforts to eliminate lead paint as quickly as possible. We should let our fellow manufacturers know how harmful lead paint is for our children, take steps as an industry to jointly eliminate lead paint and actively work with civil society and government to jointly design comprehensive regulations to phase out lead paint, rather than passively waiting for regulation to be imposed. Paint companies and national paint associations can signify their commitment to eliminating lead paint by becoming a member of the Lead Paint Alliance 8. “This is an issue that can actually be solved fairly easily,” said IPEN’s Brosché. “Policy makers are typically very supportive once they have evidence of the actual country’s situation and information about what it costs the country.” Globally, there have been two general approaches to regulating lead paint – either establishing a single regulatory limit on the total concentration of lead in paint from all sources (although these limits vary across nations – Table 3) or establishing a set of chemical-specific regulatory limits (currently used in the European Union REACH regulation). While both approaches are effective, a single regulatory limit on total lead content is much simpler for governments to implement and enforce. However, enacting lead paint regulation has not proven to be easy in many cases. “The lack of capacity in developing countries to introduce and then enforce lead limits is both a specific root cause and barrier to phasing out lead paint at the national level,” said UN Environment’s Narvaez. “Support is needed to overcome
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GOING GREEN this lack of capacity, to ensure effective regulation can be drafted and enacted.” “To help countries [develop regulations], the Alliance developed a Model Law and Guidance for Regulating Lead Paint,” said the EPA’s Walker. She added that the Model Law, which sets a limit of 90ppm for lead in paint and provides methods to ensure compliance and enforcement, as well as consequences for non-compliance, “provides a best available and practical approach to regulating lead paint that is adaptable to each country’s regulatory framework and is increasingly being used to inform the development of lead paint laws.” But capacity building is needed not just for regulators but for paint formulators as well. “Even in countries with regulations on lead paint there is evidence that small paint manufacturers struggle to comply as they have limited technical capacity or resources to formulate lead-free paint,” said UN Environment’s Narvaez. “Support is needed for SMEs to learn how to reformulate paints using lead-free additives and access to vendors of such.” To address this, PAPM organised a series of technical workshops to enable paint formulators of all its 23 members to be equally informed of safe and cost-effective alternatives to lead-based raw materials. This enabled all of its manufacturing members to have the same level of information regarding alternatives to lead-based raw materials, putting them on an equal footing in terms of their options for reformulation.
nnTHE PAINT INDUSTRY – HERO OR VILLAIN?
As the 2020 deadline to phase out lead paint draws nearer, the topic will surely attract more attention to our industry’s progress. This past April, the Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s most prestigious award for grassroots environmental activism, awarded Manny Calonzo of the Ecowaste Coalition for his efforts to eliminate lead paint in the Philippines. A story on the Mother Jones website ran this headline for his story: “You’ll probably never save as many lives as this guy who got the Philippines to stop using lead paint (actually, you definitely won’t)”9. For the Asian paint industry, the recognition of Calonzo as an environmental hero presents us with a clear choice. Lead paint is the villain, and the people stopping it are the heroes. For Asian paint companies operating in countries that currently don’t have lead paint regulation, the question to ask is – “Do we want to be known as a responsible industry that stopped making a product once we learned it was harmful? Or do we want to be remembered as an industry that kept making lead paint even after we knew how damaging it is to our children? In other words, do we want to be the good guys or the bad guys? I think we can all agree, it is an easy choice. n
References 1. Gottesfeld, P The West’s toxic hypocrisy over lead paint, New Scientist 218 (2919), 26-27. 2. Kessler R Lead-based decorative paints: where are they still sold – and why? Environmental Health Perspectives 2014 Apr; 122(4):A92–A103. Available from: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/122-a96/. 3. Kessler, R Long Outlawed in the West, Lead Paint Sold in Poor Nations, Yale 360 (March 2013). Available from: https://e360.yale.edu/features/long_outlawed_in_the_ west_lead_paint_sold_in_poor_nations. 4. Attina TM, Trasande L, Economic costs of childhood lead exposure in low- and middle-income countries, Environmental Health Perspectives 2013 Sep; 121 (9):1097-102. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pubmed/23797342. 5. https://ipen.org/documents/philippines-lead-paint. 6. Occupational Knowledge International, Lead Paint Contamination, http://www.okinternational.org/leadpaint/Contamination. 7. WHO 2018 Questions and Answers: International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of action 21-27 October 2017, question 9. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018. 8. https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/ chemicals-waste/what-we-do/emerging-issues/globalalliance-eliminate-lead-paint-2. 9. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/youllprobably-never-save-as-many-lives-as-this-guy-whogot-the-philippines-to-stop-using-lead-paint/.
Author: Johnson Ongking, Vice President of Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines, Inc and represents the company in the Advisory Board of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint. In order to raise awareness about the hazards of lead paint and the need to stop its production and sale, the Lead Paint Alliance organises an annual International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, which will be from 21-27 October 2018.
Website: www.who.int/ipcs/lead_campaign/en/.
A coating made from waste plant material is being trialled on some avocados sold in USA supermarkets
Apeel-ing edible coatings
A
vocados that stay ripe for twice as long as usual thanks to an edible barrier made from plant materials, are now being sold in Costco and Harp Foods supermarkets across the USA for the first time. Created by California-based Apeel Sciences, the Apeel coating is made from non-toxic organic compounds known as lipids and glycerolipids, derived from the unwanted peels, seeds and pulp of various types of vegetables and fruit. Every plant has a peel or skin that protects it. From apples to raspberries, the materials found in the skins and peels of plants are ubiquitous and consumed in the human diet in high quantities every day. Made from these same materials, Apeel adds a little extra ‘peel’ to the surface of fresh produce that naturally reinforces the plant’s own peel and slows the rate of water
loss and oxidation — the primary causes of spoilage. According to the company, the coating is colourless, odourless and tasteless, and is typically applied to produce in a dipping process. It then forms a barrier that helps keep moisture from dissipating out of the fruit/vegetable, while minimising the amount of oxygen that can get in. This is said to allow produce to stay fresh two to three times longer than would otherwise be possible. Apeel hopes its technology can reduce the amount of fruit and vegetables that are thrown out by retailers and consumers because of spoilage. Studies show that Americans throw away on average 400lb of food per person, costing a household of four about US$1800/yr. Although Apeel is starting with avocados, the coating’s formulation can be modified to create optimal conditions
for other items including strawberries, mangoes, apples, bananas and asparagus. Avocados were a priority because of their notoriously fleeting window of perfect ripeness and relatively high price. Not only should the coating reduce the amount of fruit and vegetables lost to spoilage, but it should also allow growers to pick and ship produce when it’s actually ripe, as opposed to picking under-ripe produce that is then relied upon to ripen in shops or consumers’ homes. The coating can also extend the life of produce in developing countries where refrigeration is not widely available across the supply chain. Because of this, the company launched in 2012 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company has carried out pilots in Nigeria and Kenya, treating cassava root and mangoes.
4 PPCJ & APCJ • October 2018 www.coatingsgroup.com
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GOING GREEN
Dr Nikolaus Raupp, BASF, discusses how the company is pushing sustainability to a new level by using more sustainable renewables as raw materials in the coatings industry
The BASF Biomass Balance Approach
T
he need for increasingly sustainable development is getting more and more obvious. Everyone can feel the severe impact of increasing environmental pollution as a negative side effect of higher industrial outputs and economic growth. The coatings industry has always been driven by the need for a more sustainable development. All huge breakthroughs in the past have been driven by either the request for a better performance or a more environmentally friendly and healthier solution. A better performance of a coating can directly be linked to a higher durability or some advantages in production or application. Higher durability, as well as all kinds of efficiency gains along the value chain have one common benefit: the reduction of the overall material consumption. If a coating will last for 10 years instead of five, you can easily calculate how many materials (as well as time and money) can be saved. The benefits of improvements with regards to environmental or health and safety issues are more complicated to calculate but actually they
are of highest interest to consumers nowadays: who would like to go back to the past and use a high VOC, solvent-based paint product for their children’s rooms? For decorative paints, performance as well as product safety standards (eg VOC levels) have now reached a very high standard. So how to differentiate a product further? With further economic development, modern consumers also start to become more and more interested in the ‘intangible’ sustainability aspects of a product, such as: how was it produced; what are the conditions in the factories; what are the main raw materials used to make this product; and where is the material coming from? In the paint and coatings industry, labour, health and safety standards are already relatively high, and production is largely automated to ensure high efficiency in this competitive business. The biggest opportunity for differentiation can be seen in the choice of the raw materials. This reasoning can be supported by, for example, the calculation of carbon footprint of a product, where usually more than
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GOING GREEN 60% of the impact is related to the raw materials and not to the paint production itself or the logistics to the end-consumers.
nnHOW TO IMPROVE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF RAW MATERIALS?
There are many limitations and challenges: 1. Most importantly: the price. If the raw material costs are too high, then the final products will not be competitive in the markets; 2. Supply reliability; 3. The quality of the raw materials must meet the technical requirements. Here are the additional requirements for a new, more sustainable raw material: • There should be some sustainability benefits in direct comparison with the current material; • There should not be any negative side effects of an increasing demand of this new material; • The performance of the new product should be maintained. Most consumers care about sustainability but do not accept any limitations in the performance or functionalities they are already used to. This behaviour is actually quite important from a holistic point of view: if performance is lower, overall material efficiency might decrease and lead to a situation where the sustainability benefits of a new raw material are usually overcompensated by the higher material consumption. Overall, the environmental impact could be worse. Considering all the aspects and to ensure that the replacement of a certain component in a paint is of significant relevance, you might come to the conclusion that starting with the organic content, usually the binder, could provide the best benefits. Generally speaking, all organic or fossil raw materials have some limitations with regards to their sustainability: fossil resources (like oil and natural gas) are limited and the consumption leads to higher greenhouse gas emissions and can contribute to climate change. For years, scientists around the world have been working on solutions to replace fossil raw materials with renewable ones. Renewable raw materials are by definition “unlimited”, or at least could, if produced and consumed in a sustainable manner, be regenerated in a reasonable amount of time. This aspect of not compromising future needs has already been recognised in past centuries. The most important benefit of renewable raw materials for today’s society might be
lower carbon footprint. As plants capture CO2, the use of renewable biomass has a much lower impact than the use of fossil raw materials, which only release CO2 that has been captured there for thousands of years.
nnHOW TO USE RENEWABLE
BIOMASS TO REPLACE FOSSIL RAW MATERIALS IN THE PRODUCTION OF THE BINDER?
Unfortunately, many ideas to develop new bio-based monomers that show a high performance in polymer-binders for architectural coatings have not been successful in the past years. The replacement of already existing monomers with a bio-based version has not been realised as the economics do not work. The costs of a bio-based monomer (eg acrylic acid) from a new bio-based process will easily be a multiple of the classic fossil version, simply due to the high investment costs for a new plant. So how do we find a solution that uses raw materials that are derived from sustainable biomass, that does not compromise the expected performance and is cost-competitive when producing a coating binder? Since 2016, BASF has offered a new approach to overcome these challenges. By using the so-called Biomass Balance Approach, fossil raw materials are replaced with sustainable biomass directly at the beginning of the integrated production process in two of BASF’s largest sites. BASF uses bionaphtha and biogas coming from certified sustainable sources, such as Crude Tall Oil (a wood based residue from the paper industry), other sustainably grown plant sources or kitchen and agricultural waste. All raw materials used for the Biomass Balance Concept must fulfil several strict requirements, to ensure a sustainable improvement. Well-respected international certification systems like REDCert or ISCC Plus help ensure that negative impacts, such as deforestation, child labour or competition with the food value chain, can be prevented. The replacement of natural gas and fossil naphtha with biogas and bionaphtha helps save limited fossil resources and guarantees a minimum reduction of greenhouse gas emissions above 50%. This minimum reduction of 50% is based on the requirement of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) of the European Union, which was chosen as a regulatory basis for Biomass Balance Approach concept. As fossil and renewable raw materials are mixed in the production process and
cannot be separated after the first steps, the allocation of the sustainable biomass to a certain coating raw material will be based on an individual product specific calculation. This calculation as well as the whole setup is regularly checked and certified by an independent third party. Coating producers are able to extend this certification also to their own production facilities to include their products in the scope of the certification. This will enable them to use the independent third party certification, for example by the well-known German TÜV SÜD, for the labelling of its paint product(s). In this regard, they will always receive a product (eg binder for a paint) that is a 100% drop in solution and gives no compromise on performance. The guaranteed saving of fossil resources and significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can be used to position the product as a more sustainable alternative in the market. The paint producer can differentiate as a sustainability leader and address the need of a sustainable future. End-users can now opt for a more sustainable choice without compromising on the performance of the product. In many markets and different product segments, Biomass Balance products are now available by leading coating companies. The German market leader DAW was the first to launch a biomass balance interior product in the German market in 2016 for its famous Caparol brand. This launch created a lot of attention in Europe. Since March 2018, Italy’s Colorificio San Marco offers Biomass Balance products for its Novacolor effect colours around the globe and in China, Nippon Paint launched Infinite Air in China in May this year as the first product in this category in Asia Pacific. Of course, the biomass balance concept is not just limited to the coatings industry. There are many other examples of successful implementation in the packaging, construction or consumer goods industries. n
Author: Dr Nikolaus Raupp, Senior Manager Regional Marketing, Polymer Dispersion for Architectural Coatings, Dispersion & Resins Asia Pacific, BASF Website: www.basf.com/biomassbalance
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GOING GREEN
Tijs Nabuurs and Maud Kastelijn, DSM Coating Resins, discuss plant-based binders as alternatives to standard fossil fuel-based binders in commercial industrial wood coatings
(Meth)acrylic copolymer emulsions for use in coatings containing plant-based monomers SUMMARY: Several plant-based alternatives to fossil fuel-based (meth)acrylate monomers are available. Most promising types include the diesters of itaconic acid and esters of (meth)acrylate monomers prepared with plant-based alcohols. Other plantbased monomers show issues with either too slow, or too high reactivity, or with lacking commercial availability. Applying the preferred and commercial available monomers in emulsion polymerisation can yield water-based and partially plant-based binders showing film properties in industrial coatings that are similar to those found for paints based on commercially available fossil-fuel based binders. At this point in time, polymeric binders with plant-based contents of around 40% can be achieved (calculated on total carbon content). New developments with even higher plant-based contents are, however, foreseen to be available within five years from now.
P
olymeric binders containing (meth) acrylic copolymers have long been used in the coatings market. With increasing awareness of the earth’s depleting natural resources and climate changes, there is growing pressure on industry to find plant-based alternatives for its raw materials. The use of plant-based raw materials in coatings is, of course, far from new. At any time before the 20th century, all coatings and coating components were from bio-origin. This varied from natural oils as crosslinking binder to pigments obtained from nature. However, with the current requirements put on coatings regarding property profiles, it is challenging to replace fossil fuel-based monomers with plant-based ones and maintain coating performance. Since the turn of the century, a lot of research resources have been spent to develop renewable alternatives of the current polymers, as used in paints and coatings. Most of this research was aimed at using vegetable oils or sugars, and modifying wood structures to obtain lignin structures1.
Although polymers obtained like this have their merits, they do not provide alternatives for modern coatings used in, for instance, the interior furniture or exterior industrial wood markets. Renewable monomers that do provide a means of producing (partially) plant-based polymer binders for use in paints and coatings have been suggested using various approaches2 but, so far, no commercial plant-based binders based on these monomers have been reported. In this study, it will be shown that it is currently feasible to produce partially plant-based polymer binders via emulsion polymerisation for use in paints or coatings applied in industrial wood. The report will begin with an overview of the various plantbased monomers that are available. For each structure, the technical pro’s and the con’s will be described. In the next section, a comparative overview will be presented of the coating properties of paints prepared from partially plant-based polymer compositions and their fossil fuel alternatives. At the end of this report, an outlook is presented regarding the development of plant-based coatings, focusing on the development of the plantbased content in the coming years. For the sake of this study, polymer synthesis was restricted to emulsion polymerisation. For a detailed overview on this technology the reader is directed to one of the many reviews that have been published on this over the years 3.
nnTECHNICAL To replace polymer binders that can be used in coatings with plant-based types, commercial availability of plantbased monomers is a prerequisite. At this moment, the common acrylate and methacrylate monomers like these are available based on fossil fuel sources but plant-based types are not yet commercially available. Producing plant-based styrene is only theoretically possible, starting from ethene. However, commercialising this is far from reality. In case of replacing (meth) acrylic copolymers, the easiest way to
replace fossil fuel-based monomers with renewable monomers would be to have the currently used building blocks available. In the past decade, routes were developed to produce acrylic and methacrylic acid from plant-based sources. Acrylic acid, for instance, can be derived from 3-hydroxy propionic acid4, or alternatively from glycerol5. Methacrylic acid, on the other hand, can be prepared, for instance, from syngas 6. This syngas is currently obtained from fossil fuel based sources but can, obviously, also be gained from renewable resources. At this point in time, however, neither plant-based acrylic acid or methacrylic acid are commercially available. Hence, other building blocks are required. Not all double bonds are reactive in radical polymerisation. Monomers that can be practically used in emulsion polymerisation need to match the general structure as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
In the case of acrylate and methacrylate monomers, for instance, X and Y are oxygen, and R1 is hydrogen or a methyl group. In practice, five different plant-based structures can be envisaged that are both reactive in radical polymerisation and (potentially) commercially available. The first practical alternative that will be discussed is based on using plantbased alcohols (R2 in Figure 1) in (meth) acrylate monomers, which would result in partially plant-based building blocks. From a polymerisation reactivity perspective, this is a very practical approach, since the monomers can be perfect drop-ins for the current monomers. A second advantage of this approach is that the contributions of the monomers on polymer properties are well understood. Unfortunately, not all alcohols that are currently used in (meth) acrylic monomers are actually available from renewable resources. Those alcohols that
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GOING GREEN Renewable content Renewable content Methanol
MA
25%
MMA
20%
Ethanol
EA
40%
EMA
33%
Renewable content Methanol
DMI
71%
Ethanol
DEI
56% 39% 24%
Butanol
BA
57%
BMA
50%
Butanol
DBI
Octanol
2-EHA
73%
2-EHMA
67%
Octanol
D2-EHI
Table 1. Plant-based contents of standard (meth)acrylic monomers when alcohols from renewable resources are used
are available, are often more expensive than their fossil fuel-based alternatives, making their commercial use more challenging. A final consideration of this approach is that depending on the number of carbon atoms in the alcohol the contribution to the renewability content can be limited. Plantbased contents of standard monomers when only the alcohol is used from plant-based resources are summarised in Table 1. If one wishes to prepare a coating containing a reasonable concentration of renewable carbon especially the longer alcohols provide significant opportunities. Commercially, not all of the monomers presented in Table 1 are available. Valid and existing options are acrylic monomers containing ethyl or n-butyl alcohols. In literature, other options have also been described, such as 2-octyl acrylate7 and isobornyl (meth)acrylates 8. Especially 2-octyl acrylate seems an interesting monomer, since it has a high renewable content and appears an easy replacement for the commonly used 2-ethylhexyl acrylate. A second plant-based alternative is based on dialkyl esters of itaconic acid (DRI, see Figure 2).
Figure 2
Compared to the methacrylic ester structure from Figure 1, here shown in blue, dialkyl esters of itaconic acid are very similar, except for the R1-group. Itaconic acid has been produced via fermentation ever since the 1960s9 and at this moment fermentation of sugars is even the preferred production route of itaconic acid10. As mentioned in the previous section, plant-based versions of the most common alcohol residues are not generally available at cost effective prices. Using fossil fuel-based alcohols, however, obviously would go at the expense of the plant-based content of DRI-monomers. The influence of the choice of fossil fuel-based alcohol on the biocontent of the itaconic diester monomer is reported in Table 2.
Table 2. Plant-based contents of itaconic ester monomers when alcohols from fossil fuel resources are used
Tg (°C)
Tg (°C)*
Methanol
MMA
105
DMI
95
Ethanol
EMA
65
DEI
58
Butanol
BMA
35
DBI
12
Octanol
2-EHMA
10
D2-EHI
-16
*Data from Cowie
11
Figure 3
Although the structure of crotonates closely resembles those of methacrylate esters, they do not copolymerise effectively enough to yield copolymers and can, henceforth, be discarded. A fourth class of plant-based monomers are diesters of methylene malonate (Figure 4).
Table 3. Comparison of glass transition contributions of dialkyl itaconates and methacrylic acid esters
DRI-monomers containing plant-based alcohols, however, would obviously result in 100% bio-renewable compositions. Commercial sources of some of those 100% plant-based itaconate monomers are commercially available, especially dimethyl itaconate (DMI) and di-n-butyl itaconate (DBI). The advantage of itaconic esters for use in binders is that their property contribution in co-polymeric binders compares favourably with methacrylic esters containing the same alcohols. As an example, in Table 3 glass transition contributions of the monomers presented in Table 2 are compared to esters of methacrylic acid. When similar alcohols are used, Tg contributions of DRI-monomers compare quite favourably with those of methacrylic esters. Similarly, water solubility of DRImonomers is comparable to those of methacrylic esters containing the same alcohols, too. The use of itaconic esters in emulsion polymerisation does, however, also provide challenges. Due to the presence of the very bulky R1-group, reactivity of itaconate esters is low. Typically, the propagation rate constant of dialkyl itaconates is in the 5-10l/ mole.s range12. As a result, it is challenging to produce dialkyl itaconate functional copolymers containing a significant DRImonomers concentration with high monomer conversion and high molecular weights. By controlling polymerisation conditions and optimising the polymerisation procedure, however, these effects can be mitigated13. A third plant-based option for biobased monomers are esters of crotonic acid (Figure 3). Crotonic acid can be obtained from plant based raw materials, for instance, via pyrolysis of 3-hydroxy butyrate14.
Figure 4
Malonic acid can be obtained from renewable resources, such as 3-hydroxy propionic acid15. Synthesis of methylene malonate esters has already been described in 1940 by Bachman et al16. Looking at the structure of diesters of methylene malonate, it is apparent that the double bond is actually double activated. Consequently, monomers like these are very reactive, especially in anionic polymerisation. In fact, their reactivity in anionic polymerisation is so high, that stability of methylene malonates is limiting their application. In order to prevent premature polymerisation methylene malonate monomers should be stored under strong acidic conditions. When brought into contact with water, these monomers will spontaneously polymerise, unless, again, the aqueous environment is very acidic. Hence, although dialkyl esters of methylene malonic acid can provide an interesting class of plant-based monomers, it is not yet practical to use them in an emulsion copolymerisation set-up. Finally, the fifth class of potentially plant-based monomers is based on the α-methylene butyrolactone structure as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5
The monomer shown in Figure 5, which is also called tulipalin A, can be obtained from tulips. The first description of the monomer originates already from 194717. Radical polymerisation was described in
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GOING GREEN 197918. In the same year copolymerisation of α-methylene butyrolactone with methyl methacrylate, styrene, acrylamide and acrylonitrile was described19. Looking at the structure of α-methylene butyrolactone, the close resemblance with methyl methacrylate is striking. In fact, α-methylene butyrolactone is the cyclic analogue of methyl methacrylate. Polymerisation of α-methylene butyrolactone proceeds very well, with kp/ kt1/2 reported to be almost twice as high as for methyl methacrylate 20. From a property perspective, this monomer is also very interesting with a Tg contribution, for instance, of 195°C19. Unfortunately, although it (co)polymerises well and can yield interesting (co)polymer properties, α-methylene butyrolactone is not yet commercially available. In conclusion, looking at copolymerisation properties, polymer properties, and commercial availability, the itaconate esters and (meth)acrylates esters yield the most promising routes for partially plantbased copolymers. Diesters of itaconic acid yield properties very similar to those of methacrylate copolymers. By adjusting the polymerisation process, especially in the post-reaction stage, itaconate diesters provide a feasible and commercially available route to prepare (partially) plant-based copolymers for use in coatings.
nnEXPERIMENTAL Applying the monomers described in the section above in emulsion polymerisation, polymer emulsions were prepared yielding partially plant-based compositions. In the next sections, the film properties of these partially plant-based polymer binders will be compared to similar polymer compositions based on fossil fuel-based compositions. It should be emphasised that the comparison is with comparable and not identical polymer binders, since, for instance, in the case of itaconic esters no direct monomer replacements are available. Comparisons were made for two different types of coatings; the first being a 1C selfcrosslinking coating for use in exterior and as second coating a 2C NCO curing coating for interior furniture coating applications. Exterior 1C self-crosslinking coating – Self-crosslinking coatings, containing ketone functional binders which upon film formation react with polyhydrazides, have for long been the standard in the market for exterior wood coatings. For the purpose of this comparison an established binder was selected, whose properties were compared to those of a biobased version. The monomers used in the reference binder are typically a combination of methacrylate and acrylate monomers. As discussed above, these monomers, and
especially the methacrylate esters, can readily be replaced with both partially plant-based acrylate or methacrylate monomers and with itaconate monomers containing similar alcohol residues as those in the monomers that are to be replaced. In this comparison, fossil fuel-based monomers were replaced with plant-based ones so that the total plantbased content of the binder added up to 40%, based on carbon content in the solid polymer composition. For comparison of the coating properties, clear and pigmented formulations were made according to the recipes shown in Table 4. The results of the coating properties are shown in Table 5. In the comparison reported in Table 5, the most important observation is that there are very little differences in performance between the coatings based on the established fossil fuel-based binder and the new plant-based binder. Between the two types of binders only marginal differences can be observed Clear formulation
Pigmented formulation
Binder*
70.6
55.6
Water
18.6
5.3**
Butyldiglycol
2.2
2.5
Thixol 53L (1:10 in water)
7.2
5.0
Dapro® DF7580
0.6
0.4
Borchigel® L75 (1:1 in water)
0.8
0.6
TM
Disperbyk® 2015
1.5 **
Tego Foamex 810
0.3**
Kronos® 2190
24**
®
Ammonia (25%)
***
***
* Used at a solids content of 44% ** Part of the pigment paste premix *** Enough to raise the pH to 8.9
Table 4. Clear and pigmented formulations for exterior coatings based on selfcrosslinking binders
but these are considered to fall within experimental error. This was observed in clear formulations with marginal differences in elongation at break, toughness, and impact resistance, while in the comparison of the pigmented paints practically no differences were observed. Hence, using the biobased monomers as discussed in the sections above, it proves to be very feasible to formulate coatings based on partially plant-based binder compositions for exterior wood applications with an acceptable property set which is comparable to that of coatings based on standard fossil fuel-based binders. Interior furniture coating – As typical interior furniture coating one was selected based on a water-based 2C NCO crosslinking binder with a low hydroxyl number. The binder which was selected to be replaced with a partially plant-based version was a styrene-acrylate binder with a hydroxyl number of 50mg KOH/g of solid resin. The Tg of the binder is 40°C, yielding an MFT in the absence of polyisocyanate crosslinker of 45°C. Obviously, replacing all monomers with plant-based ones at this point in time is not possible, since we do not possess a plantbased alternative for styrene yet. Hence, in this case only the (meth)acrylate monomers were replaced. This was again made possible through the use of partially plant-based (meth) acrylate or itaconate diester monomers. Comparison of the fossil fuel-based binder and the plant-based binder was done in a clear, high gloss paint, which was cured with Bayhydur 2655, at an NCO:OH ratio of 1.6. Preferably the coating tests would have been done with the partially plant-based polyisocyanate crosslinker Bayhydur ECO 7190 but this was not available at the time of these tests. The coating formulation that was used for the comparison is shown in Table 6. After mixing in the crosslinker, formulations were left to stand for one hour, after which films were cast on a Wodego W700 panel.
Table 5. Comparison of properties of exterior wood coatings containing binders made from only fossil fuel-based monomers or partially from plant-based monomers
Clear formulation
Pigmented formulation
Fossil fuel-based
Plant-based
Fossil fuel-based Plant-based
Biocontent of binder (on carbon)
0%
40%
0%
40%
Early water resistance (4hr)*
2/5
3/5
Early blocking resistance (500μm)*
4
4
3
3
Elongation at break (110μm)
117
122
94
96
Toughness (MPa)
8
12
7.5
7.5
Impact (N) – RT/7°C
8/6
7/6
8/7
9/7
Outdoor exposure (24 months)
Good
Good
QUV EN 927-6 (2016 hours)
Good
Good
Gardner wheel (357 cycles)
Good
Good
* 0 is poor, 5 is excellent
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GOING GREEN
Clear formulation Binder*
100.0
Water
4.4
Butyldiglycol
8.0
Radiasolve 7529
2.0
Tego Airex 902W
0.6
®
®
Coatex BR100P (1:1 in water) 1.0 ®
Bayhydur® 2655 (70% in MPA)
18.1
Water
10.0
* Used at a solids content of 40%
Table 6. Clear formulation for interior 2C NCO curing coatings
Fossil fuel-based
Plantbased
Bio content of binder (on carbon)
0%
40%
Gloss (20°/60°)
58/80
64/89
Chemical resistances* Ethanol
1hr
5
5
Red wine
6hr
4-5
5
Coffee
16hr
5
5
Water
16hr
5
5
Mustard
6hr
3
3
Onion juice
6hr
3-4
3-4
* 0 is poor, 5 is excellent
Table 7. Comparison of film properties of 2C isocyanate crosslinking interior furniture coatings containing binders made from only fossil fuel-based monomers or partially plantbased monomers
After a flash off, of two hours at room temperature, films were aged at 50°C for 16hr. Next, gloss and chemical resistances were determined. The results are presented in Table 7. Just as in the case of the exterior coating properties, the plant-based interior coating seems to perform very comparable to the fossil fuel-based reference. Gloss levels were a little better for the plant-based type but all chemical resistances were very similar. Considering the low hydroxyl value of the binder and, hence, the relatively low crosslink density, both coatings yielded excellent resistance towards ethanol, red wine, and coffee, and somewhat poorer resistances towards mustard and onion juice. Hence, just as in the case of the exterior wood coating, 2C isocyanate crosslinking interior furniture coatings based on plantbased polymer emulsions can be very useful alternatives for the fossil fuel-based types.
nnDISCUSSION As the study in this report shows, using the currently available plant-based monomers, it is very well possible to prepare binders
with plant-based contents between of around 40%. At these plant-based levels, performances of the partially renewable binders are very similar to those of the commercially available reference binders based on monomers obtained from fossil fuel resources. The limitation with respect to reaching higher bio-based levels comes from the fact that a partially plant-based acrylate monomer, such as butyl acrylate, for instance, possesses only 57% of renewable carbon atoms. Alternatively, diesters of itaconic acid can be obtained fully plant-based. However, due to their slow polymerisation rate and high chain transfer to monomer constant, these can only be used to a limited concentration before either monomer conversion drops or the molecular weight of the resulting polymer composition becomes too low. What we would need to increase the biocontents of polymer binders are either fully biobased alternatives to the current (meth)acrylate monomers or, for instance, commercially available butyrolactones (Figure 5). It is expected that within two to five years from now, such monomers will become available, in addition to the current plantbased monomers. The combination of all these monomers will make it possible, within the same period, to produce (meth) acrylate copolymers with a plant-based content as high as between 50 and 70% on carbon. At this moment, such binders have been prepared on lab scale, again reaching similar performance as the fossil fuel-based binders or in some cases even superior properties. However, especially in optimising polymerisation process conditions and formulation requirements, these developments do need some optimisation before they may become available to the market. Eventually, it will prove possible to produce plant-based binders with concentrations of renewable carbons of between 70 and 100%, although it is envisaged that for this to be realistic even more extensions of the monomer toolbox are required. Useful extension would, for instance, be plant-based styrene, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid or even entirely new monomers that can be derived from plant-based resources.
nnCONCLUSIONS Partially plant-based industrial wood coatings can be prepared with biocontents in the binder of around 40%, reaching coating properties comparable to those of fossil fuelbased types. Applying partially plant-based copolymer binders, competitive coating properties can be achieved. Currently this is made feasible using two approaches. Firstly, one can use (meth)acrylate monomers where
the alcohol residue is replaced with a plantbased alternative. In this way, only partially plant-based monomers will be available. Secondly, diesters of itaconic acid can be used. These monomers tend to copolymerise a little bit slower than (meth)acrylate monomers but they have the advantage that they can be obtained as 100-% plant based, as calculated on carbon content. This study shows that when using a combination of such approaches plantbased alternatives to standard commercial industrial wood coatings can be produced with a performance similar to the fossil fuel-based reference binders. At this point in time, partially plant-based binders can be produced with renewable contents of up to 40%. A similar property comparison, at comparable biocontents, is also achievable for coatings applied in DIY and wall paints. This comparison will be reported separately21. In the near future, the plant-based content of copolymeric binders can likely be extended to 50% or higher. To achieve plantbased contents of 70% or higher requires the extension of the current plant-based monomer toolbox. n References 1. See for instance: ‘Monomers, Polymers and Composites from Renewable Resources’; M Belgacem and A Gandini Eds, Elsevier (2005), and ‘Bio-Based Polymers and Composites’; R’ Wool and X’ Sun, Elsevier (2008), and A’ Gandini et al; Prog. Polym. Sci., 48, 1 (2015). 2. J Mosnacek et al; Macromolecules, 41(15), 5509 (2008); K Yao et al; Macromolecules, 46(5), 1689 (2013); A Holmberg et al; ACS Macro. Lett., 5(5), 574 (2016). 3. See for instance: ‘Emulsion Polymerization, a mechanistic approach’, R Gilbert, Academic Press (1995), and ‘Chemistry and Technology of Emulsion Polymerization’, A van Herk (Edt), Blackwell Publishing (2008). 4. WO2002042418 (assigned to Cargill). 5. WO2006092272 (assigned to Stockhausen). 6. WO2014096850 (assigned to Lucite), WO2010079293 (assigned to Arkema). 7. WO2014207389 (assigned to Arkema). 8. US8642696 (assigned to BASF). 9. M Steiger et al; Front. Microbiol., 4, 23 (2013). 10. T Willke et al; Appl. Microiol. Biotechn., 56(34), 289 (2001). 11. J Cowie et al; Polymer, 18, 612 (1977). 12. B Tate et al; Adv. Polymer Sci., 5, 214 (1967). 13. WO2011073417 (assigned to DSM). 14. M Mamat et al; J. Cleaner Prodn, 83, 463 (2014). 15. T Carole et al; Opportunities in the industrial biobased products industry, from ‘Applied biochemistry and biotechnology’, Volumes 113116, Spring 2004. 16. US2313501 (assigned to Eastman Kodak). 17. US2624723 (assigned to Allied Chem. & Dye Corp). 18. M Akkapeddi; Macromolecules, 12, 546 (1979). 19. M Akkapeddi; Polymer, 20, 1215 (1979). 20. M Ueda et al; J. Pol. Sci., Pol. Chem. Ed., 20, 2819 (1982). 21. In progress.
Author: Tijs Nabuurs, Maud Kastelijn DSM Coating Resins, Sluisweg 12, 5145PE, Waalwijk, The Netherlands Email: Tijs.Nabuurs@DSM.com
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GOING GREEN
Barry Snyder, Axalta, details how the company is working with its automotive customers to help them achieve their sustainability goals
The drive to reduce energy consumption and increase productivity
A
xalta is taking a deliberate approach to sustainable business practices. As a result, Axalta’s energy use, waste generation and emissions from operations have remained constant or in some cases, decreased. Yet, Axalta isn’t only looking inwardly to address sustainability; its innovations reap sustainability goals for its customers. Axalta has been developing innovative products, such as coatings for lighter weight cars that consume less fuel and emit less carbon dioxide, car paint colours that can positively impact exhaust emissions and products that support the enhanced performance of electric vehicles, all to help contribute to its customers’ sustainability. In 2017, Axalta spent US$180M – about 4% of sales – on research and development to create innovative new products, as well as to enhance existing products. With more than 1300 research fellows, scientists and engineers at technology centres and laboratories around the world, Axalta continues to develop, to manufacture and to sell high-performance coatings in a responsible manner. And technological innovation is key. Barry Snyder, Axalta’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, said: “We plan to allocate more than 65% of research spending through 2022 to developing products that are designed to result in sustainability benefits for our customers, such as lower VOC emissions, reduced waste and energy savings.”
nnADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF OEM LIGHTWEIGHT CAR BODY DESIGN
Axalta is creating new levels of technological innovation by providing sustainable manufacturing processes for light vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Driven by pressure from regulatory bodies and a desire to move towards sustainability, OEMs are shifting to more sustainable materials and
processes. Use of lightweight materials like aluminium and magnesium, and polymeric substrates in automotive body designs reduce the overall weight of the car, which helps to cut down CO2 emissions. Despite these lightweight substrates creating challenges for coating technologies, Axalta has leveraged its extensive expertise to develop ultra-lowcure temperature coating methods that allow them to be used. These coatings cure faster and at lower oven temperatures than traditional systems – between 120°C and 140°C – and enable OEMs to reduce energy consumption. Many OEMs are also looking at High Throw Power in their e-coats, which reduces consumption while maintaining interior film build. AquaEC from Axalta is one such advanced e-coat that makes it possible to coat hard-to-reach areas and crevices and to treat prime pieces with complex geometries. Increased paint efficiency is also achieved, compared to conventional e-coats, resulting in energy savings of up to 20%. Savings are also possible in wastewater treatment as the proportion of anolyte to be disposed of can also be reduced by between 10-20%. “The systems that are in use at many of the major OEMs have sustainability and productivity at their core. Our waterborne 3-Wet system, 2-Wet Monocoat and Eco-Concept Harmonized Coating Technologies™ are a few examples of innovations our customers are currently using,” Snyder said.
nnCOLOUR EQUATES TO SUSTAINABILITY
Consumers with strong environmental awareness will take not only the design of a new vehicle into account when making a purchasing decision but also energy consumption, emissions, materials, coatings and even how these elements meet environmental standards. Axalta’s 2018 Automotive Color of the Year, StarLite, is a white reflective hue developed specifically for automotive OEMs. StarLite is formulated with synthetic pearl flakes to create an eye-catching pearlescent effect. “There’s more to StarLite than meets the eye. It may even help reduce the environmental impact of vehicles,” said Snyder. While it is readily accepted that lighter car colours like white and silver reflect sunlight better than darker car colours, it is thought that a car’s colour can affect its fuel economy and emissions1. Lighter car colours can contribute to decreased air temperature inside a car that has been parked in the sun. This means the air conditioning capacity – rate of heat removal – required to cool the air inside a lighter coloured car is 13%2 less than that required in a darker car that isn’t as solar reflective. Ultimately, this could improve the vehicle’s fuel economy; OEMs can install a smaller air conditioner that draws less power from the engine in lighter coloured cars. Smaller air conditioners can translate into a 2% increase in fuel efficiency, a 1.9% reduction in CO2 emissions and a reduction of about
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GOING GREEN 1% in other auto emissions 3. Snyder said, “This puts choosing a car colour in a totally new light for vehicle owners and also helps OEMs address sustainability issues of their own.”
nnVEHICLES OF THE FUTURE, TODAY Hybrid and all-electric passenger cars hold many advantages for environmentallyconscious car buyers. Axalta plays its part with these vehicles too, supplying leading OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers. Its electrical insulating materials are used in the advanced electric motors of electric and hybrid vehicles, meeting not only the growing demand for high-volume production but also the required improved performance levels of the motors. Michael Glomp, Global Vice President for Axalta’s
Energy Solutions business, said: “Axalta’s Voltron wire enamels are extensively used in high-performance motors used in electric sports cars. They also enable the use of more powerful or smaller and more lightweight electric motors needed for smaller passenger cars.” Voltatex bondable electrical steel coatings enable engineers to create revolutionary designs in motor geometry and build the most efficient motors – building smaller motors with the same torque as larger ones – and increase the driving range. While Voltatex impregnating agents, which are designed to operate at 220°C, provide excellent thermal and mechanical stability, allowing motors to run hotter, more efficiently and reliably. Snyder concluded: “Axalta has been in the business of sustainability for more than
150 years. We are committed to providing our customers with quality, innovation and exceptional products, every day. But above all, we share with them the passion to minimise the impact on the environment, and thanks to our innovations, we can achieve that together.” n
References 1. Berkeley Lab, Energy Technologies Area (ETA), University of California. 2. Berkeley Lab, Energy Technologies Area (ETA), University of California. 3. Berkeley Lab, Energy Technologies Area (ETA), University of California.
Author: Barry Snyder, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Axalta Website: www.axaltacs.com
Damian Nowak, Synthos, discusses how the company achieves environmentally friendly dispersions for premium paints
Synthos dispersions for PSA tapes, architectural and wood coatings
S
ynthos is one of the largest manufacturers of raw chemical materials in Poland and Europe’s largest producer of synthetic rubber and expandable polystyrene (EPS). Rapid expansion in recent years has turned Synthos into an enterprise that is competitive, safe, environmentally-friendly and which supplies the market with highquality state-of-the-art products. The Synexil® and Osakryl® brands cover a wide range of dispersions based on vinyl acetate, acrylics, styrene-acrylics and vinyl acrylics copolymers. These dispersions meet the market needs for the formulation of products in the constructionchemical industry, such as interior and
exterior paints, primers, plasters, decorative and professional (furniture, joinery) wood coatings and putties, as well as dispersion adhesives – PSA, paper and wood. Synthos pays close attention to the environmental aspects of its products. No dispersions contain APEO emulsifiers (alkylphenol ethoxylates), solvents, hazardous plasticisers or any other substances harmful to human health and the environment. Dispersions are compliant with the recommendations for low-VOC and formaldehyde content.
nnKEY FOCUS The Dispersion Business Unit owns an R&D laboratory that develops new products in line with current market requirements. In the field of wood-coatings, it is constantly working on new products in order to achieve high-application parameters. One product well worth mentioning is Synexil® AF 33, an acrylic, self-cross-linking agent dedicated to transparent and pigmented furniture varnishes. It is characterised by very-high chemical resistance (compliant with the requirements of IKEA ISOMAT-0066-8), very-good anti-blocking and high scratch resistance. Formulations based on Synexil® AF 33 facilitate a wide range of varnish-gloss adjustment. Another key focus area is PSA adhesives, designed for packaging tapes and labels.
The company’s internal research and application equipment ensures PSA adhesives meet customers’ requirements. Thanks to the work of its R&D, Synthos recently developed new Synexil® PSA products that are in line with food-contact standards. Due to further research, new advanced PSA dispersions will be launched in the future. Synthos pays close attention to the ecological aspects of its products and constantly improves them to reduce their negative impact on the natural environment. That is why the company is focused on developing acrylic and styrene-acrylic dispersions for premium paints compliant with very-strict Ecolabel standards. Paints based on this kind of binder are characterised by first class wet scrubbing and stain resistance without adding any coalescents or plasticisers. Synthos provides customers with a full technological service. The team of technical advisers working in close cooperation with the R&D laboratory, affords technical consultation and support for customers. Their know-how, combined with experience, allows Synthos to adjust its dispersions to clients’ expectations. n
Author: Damian Nowak, Product Manager Website: www.synthosspecialties.com
12 PPCJ & APCJ • October 2018 www.coatingsgroup.com
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