- Environmental Challenges Facing the Industrial Coating Industry
- Sustainable Solutions for Improved Environmental Outcomes
- Current Codes and Regulations
- The Future of Sustainable Industrial Coatings
Architectural coatings are an important element of commercial construction, home improvement, and structural fabrication industries. These coatings serve a range of purposes that contribute to the functionality of a fixed structure or building, such as water and weather resilience, durability, and visual appeal.
However, as critical as they are, the negative environmental consequences of using these products are still a concern for builders, government regulatory bodies, and the general population.
Fortunately, significant progress has been made to mitigate these issues. Through spray equipment innovation, improved technologies, materials science advancement, and more efficient application methods, architectural coatings are becoming more environmentally friendly than ever before.
Environmental Challenges Facing the Industrial Coating Industry
Many individuals find themselves questioning, "Is paint bad for the environment?"
Historically, paint solutions and coatings have been a stressor to the environment due to the synthetic nature of the materials used and their mode of application. In general, the negative environmental impacts of architectural protective coatings can be categorized in three ways:
- VOC Exposure: VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, are chemical solid or liquid materials that emit harmful off-gases to the surrounding environment. Man-made VOCs, like the ones found in architectural coatings, typically have the highest levels of harmful chemicals, and can cause many short and long-term health effects to exposed individuals. VOCs also contribute to the ground-level ozone layer, resulting in smog - it was estimated in 2005 that over 51 kilotonnes of VOCs were emitted from architectural coatings in Canada alone.
- Energy Production Requirements: Most coating materials are intensively manufactured, and require a great deal of resources and power to formulate. Over time, this level of energy consumption can stress the environment's natural assets.
- Post-Application Waste: Excess material use is common when applying architectural coatings. Poor user operation can result in wasted materials through overspray, and inferior protective coating equipment can lack the right components to throttle the amount of coating material being processed through the system.
Sustainable Solutions for Improved Environmental Outcomes
In recent years, immense progress has been made to reduce the environmental damage and impacts of spray coatings. These improvements have been witnessed at all levels in the protective coating industry. While there is still a substantial amount of work that needs to be done to create safe ecological coatings, current innovations in waste reduction, curing technology, material composition, and application techniques have made sustainable coatings more prominent.
Waste Reduction Innovation
As discussed, the production of coating materials can be quite taxing on natural resources and power facilities. Investing in equipment that has waste-reduction technology can be extremely beneficial for reducing the environmental costs associated with using liquid spray and powder coating equipment. Some of the key features that spray technicians should look for include:
- High Transfer Efficiency Spray Guns
- Embedded Flushing Mechanisms
- Precision Spray Equipment and Spray Tips
- State-of-the-Art Proportioning Systems
Energy Efficient Technologies
Traditionally, architectural coatings cure and dry through the process of evaporation. While this is effective and low cost, evaporation is how VOCs are released from coating materials.
To combat this, UV/infrared eco-friendly solutions have become more widely used in the coating industry, allowing finishes to cure with minimal off-gassing.
Additionally, UV curing machines work quickly, providing a final dry coat sooner than through evaporation alone. This reduces the energy requirements that are needed with standard dryers.
Eco-Friendly Coating Materials
One of the most significant advancements taking place in the coating industry is the creation of the green coatings market and the implementation of bio-based materials. In the past, most paint sprayers and coating tools utilized petrochemical-based materials. However, bio-based materials and sustainable paints are now being frequently used indoors because of their lower number of VOCs. These eco coatings can be derived from renewable sources like vegetable oils, plant-based oils, and plant-based esters, or they can be water-based.
Advanced Application Techniques and Processes
Increased knowledge surrounding application equipment and techniques has also positively impacted the environmental effect of coatings. Spray technicians can be trained to utilize and maintain their machines more efficiently, reducing overspray and waste. Most coating , painting equipment and spray foam insulation rigs now feature adjustable spray nozzles and flushing mechanisms to help with this.
Using modern products can also be beneficial. Many coatings now feature a combined paint and primer mix that reduces the number of required coats, helping reduce material usage.
Current Codes and Regulations
As current research surrounding the impact of architectural coatings on the environment changes, so do codes and regulations. The Canadian government has enacted legislation that controls the allowable amount of VOCs emitted from coatings based on specific material categories like general architectural coatings, industrial maintenance coatings, and traffic marking coatings.
Acceptable VOC levels range from 100 grams per litre to 800 grams per litre based on these categories. All materials must undergo accredited laboratory testing to ensure that they fall within the specified parameters - overall, these regulations are estimated to reduce VOCs by 28%.
Summary: The Future of Sustainable Industrial Coatings
All industries have a responsibility to ensure that their products minimize negative environmental impacts on the planet and its inhabitants. While the architectural coating industry was once known for its high VOCs, excessive material waste, and significant energy consumption, an impressive amount of change has occurred thanks to equipment and material advancements.
Here at Bolair, we are dedicated to stocking modern coating equipment that supports this environmental transformation. When you purchase eco-sustainable solutions from us, you can feel confident that your spray machines and accessories will be capable of supporting eco-friendly coatings for a more profitable and sustainable business. Contact us today to get assistance with finding the right machine for your application.
