feedstocks and transportation have boosted the costs for
all manufacturers over the past few years,” said Mitchell.
“Internally we are looking at our manufacturing and supply chain processes as a strategy to keep our resins manufacturing costs under control. Our customers, the paint
manufacturers, are also looking to us to help reduce their
overall costs as well.”
At the same time the ongoing trend of consolidation
among paint manufacturers has created new supply syn-ergies for new resins manufacturers, according to Johnson.
“Regional companies are increasingly being acquired by
larger manufacturers, which changes our supply arrangements,” she said. “Paint manufacturers would like suppliers to maintain pricing and in today’s volatile pricing environment it becomes a challenge to maintain.”
Maintaining an open line of communication between resins
suppliers and coatings manufacturers is vital to success. “At
Eliokem we are increasingly trying to partner with our customers to exchange information about the realities of today’s
volatile petrochemical fluctuations,” said Johnson. “For some
customers that buy multiple products we have entertained the
idea of implementing bulk pricing arrangements for full truck
loads of combined products. This is one example of how we are
going about managing costs. For Eliokem to continue to absorb
price increases or continue passing them on to our customers
does not benefit anyone in the long run. We are looking at
reducing our costs in other areas to offset the increases.”
A DELICATE BALANCE
Resins manufacturers must maintain a delicate balance
between developing innovative technologies to meet their
customers’ needs and keeping costs at an acceptable level.
“Coatings customers are continually seeking high performance and high value resins as they attempt to pass on
performance to match their increasing prices as well as to
offer differentiation from their competitors,” said Gaynor.
“The major demand on resins suppliers is to develop
lower cost resins systems that perform at a high level,”
offered Hallack. “This is due to the focus on lowering raw
material costs while the customers try to develop systems that perform at a high level but also meet VOC and
environmental regulations.”
“As an emulsion supplier, our challenges are virtually
the same as our customers in that we are looking at ways
to create low VOC products that hit specific targets in both
cost and performance,” said Mitchell. “We are continually
working to advance our resins technology to drive value
into our customers’ products.”
Celanese recently opened its Houston Technology
Center (HTC). The 31,200-square-foot facility includes
both analytical and application testing laboratories including the paint and coatings group for North America. “At
this state-of-the-art facility we will support this local market with VAE and other emulsion technologies that
address the specific needs of North American manufacturers,” said Mitchell.
paint in Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordic region,
where reduced environmental impact has been a part of
their lives for more than a generation. “Celanese is translating this low-emission paint success in Europe to U.S.
and Canadian markets, with products designed for the
North American marketplace,” Mitchell added.
In order to keep up with ever-changing environmental
regulations, resins suppliers have invested a lot of time and
money into developing new technologies to meet these
needs. “Regarding VOC legislation, we are working hard to
develop new resins to assist the paint manufacturers,” said
Johnson. “Eliokem recently hired a new process and development manager to focus on new product development and
we are currently recruiting for an additional paint chemist
to increase our lab staff. There are several new resins we
have launched directly related to reducing VOCs.”
“Changing VOC legislation is of top concern for coatings
manufacturers, however this is also an opportunity for
resins manufacturers if they can develop resins to permit
formulating within the VOC limits,” Johnson added. “This
opportunity has recently prompted Eliokem to develop
new resins for porch and floor coatings, low VOC horizontal concrete coatings and swimming pool paints and
garage floor coatings.”
Eliokem offers Pliotec PA91, an all acrylic latex specifically designed for low VOC porch and floor applications;
Pliotec CR30 crosslinking acrylic co-polymer designed for
permit formulations of garage floor coatings under 50 g/l
VOC; and Pliotec PA20 pure acrylic resins that can be formulated below 50 g/l VOC in several horizontal and vertical masonry coatings.
Celanese offers Celvolit 1774, a vinyl acetate/ethylene
(VAE) emulsion that addresses both environmental standards for VOC and the consumer performance requirements for durability, scrub and low odor.
Alberdingk Boley has developed a new generation of solvent-free polyurethane dispersions to meet the market’s need
for environmentally friendly alternatives. The company has
also developed a new generation of self crosslinking and multiphase acrylic emulsions to meet the low VOC demands of coating formulators. To meet the need of complete VOC,
Alberdingk has developed a range of low viscosity, 100% solids
polyols for two-pack industrial applications. “These products
also have the environmental advantage of being based on the
renewable resource, castor oil,” said Gaynor.
The latest resins technologies launched by Tego to
address environmental regulations are Silikopon EF and
Silikophen P 80/MPA. Silikopon EF is a silicone-epoxy
hybrid resin that enables the formulators to develop high
gloss, chemical resistant, corrosion resistant and weather
resistant coatings that can be formulated at a VOC level
of less than 100 g/L. Silikophen P 80/MPA is a methyl
phenyl silicone resin that is used for high temperature
resistant coatings up to 650° C. The Silikophen P 80/MPA
contains HAPS-free solvents and has a solids content of
80% by weight while also providing a moderate degree of
corrosion resistance. CW
