| Environmentally friendly paints,
surface treatments and coatings: "Making environmentally friendly paints is easy: the hard part
is making environmentally friendly paints that have
worthwhile decorative and protective properties."
Source: The Paint Research Association (UK)
As highlighted by the above quote, two important elements of
"green" paint coating durability (withstanding environmental degradation) are
protection of the substrate against corrosion damage and maintaining a decorative
(attractive) appearance. Apart from performance, a further important consideration is
cost-effectiveness and "value" to the user(s). Cost-effectiveness spans across
paint production, application and in-service use (maintenance).
If a so-called environmentally friendly
paint system was to perform poorly in service (low
durability) it would have to removed and re-applied relatively frequently, thereby
increasing costs, energy consumption, waste generation and possible negative environmental
impacts. Similar complications could arise from processing problems in the production,
application and maintenance of such paint systems. |
Topical environmental issues in the chemical composition of
paint coatings include:
Reduction in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and shift to water based
formulations;
Lead-free systems;
Chromate (hexavalent chromium) free systems;
Regulations on biocide additives.
Environmentally friendly paint system matters extend beyond the chemical composition of
paint coatings and include:
surface preparation and pre-treatment (e.g. alternative solvents, paint
removal, reduced cleaning requirements through process changes, etc.);
paint application equipment;
paint application operator techniques;
cleaning of equipment;
processing with reduced energy and reduced waste;
removal, recycling and re-use.
|
References/Literature:
EPA (State Ohio), Office of Pollution Prevention, Fact Sheet No.23,
September 1994.
Links:
Coatings Guide
http://cage.rti.org
(pollution prevention for paint and coatings users)
Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center
www.pprc.org
(amongst other, information on electrocoat technology)
The Paint Research Association (UK)
www.pra.org.uk
Pollution and prevention information at
www.p2gems.org
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