tunities for biocides suppliers. “Mold
and indoor air quality are in the forefront of consumers’ minds and there is a
continued interest in low- and zero-VOC coatings for residential use especially for asthmatics and individuals
with allergies,” said Mark Kenline, global business director, Arch Chemicals.
“Companies are now formulating coatings specifically for this market and we
expect it to continue to grow.”
IMPACT OF THE BPD
Upcoming environmental regulations
such as Europe’s Biocides Products
Directive (BPD) are going to be a major
challenge for biocides suppliers. In some
cases, certain actives are being removed
from the company’s offerings because
they will not meet the BPD’s proposed
standards. With a shrinking number of
products to work with, biocide suppliers
will need to develop effective blends to
meet the needs of the coatings industry,
as well as developing biocidal products
that are approved for use in Europe as
well as in North America and the rest of
the world.
“We have seen continued pressure
on older actives in Europe as they
are preparing for the BPD and the
harmonization of regulatory bodies
in the member states,” said Kenline.
“With these pending changes, there
will be fewer actives to formulate
within Europe. This is a market
where many biocide companies
depend on proprietary blends; these
blends will become more difficult to
maintain with public disclosures of
content and cost to register.”
“BPD is a work in progress and its
impact on biocide actives and their
formulations will not be known for
another 2-3 years,” said Littel.
“Understanding the potential large
and uncertain costs involved to support biocides through BPD, one can
assume many products will not be
around in the next five years. High
regulatory costs to support BPD and
EPA (RED re-registration) are a key
driver in deciding which products
remain in the marketplace.”
“The most obvious effect of any environmental regulation change is to limit
the number and variety of active sub-
stances to manufacturers,” said Gary
Horacek, director microbiology, Troy
Corp. “Limits on formaldehyde will create opportunities for synergistic combinations of products that perform as well
as old technologies but meet all current
standards. With the current trend
toward industry consolidation, global
customers expect their suppliers to
think globally but act locally by offering
compliant and effective solutions.”
“Biocides which would experience difficulties meeting recent or proposed
environmental regulations are being
replaced with more environmentally
friendly products,” said Dallmier. “The
entire biocide formulation including the
active ingredient, dispersant and other
components are being scrutinized and
modified to meet anticipated environmental regulations around the world.
This will enable biocide suppliers to
offer products on a cost competitive
basis while adapting to an evolving regulatory landscape.”
“The move to Green Seal and other
forms of green labeling is pushing the
market to low to no VOC and to HCHO-free biocide solutions,” said David
Sutton, North American marketing
manager for industrial biocides, Rohm
and Haas. “BPD action is raising customer concern about the use of some
biocides, especially those customers
with a strong business base in the EU.”
To meet these needs Rohm and Haas
is adding more in-can preservatives to
its portfolio such as Rocima 586, zero-VOC combination of active ingredients
in Kathon and Bronopol, as well as
adding algaecides products such as
Rocima 80, a 33% active formulation of
Irgarol.
According to Dallmier, Lanxess is filling its product development pipeline for
the paints and coatings industry almost
entirely with products which contribute
low-to-no-VOC, and will meet anticipated environmental regulations. “Lanxess
hired additional regulatory experts
around the world to enable our organization to properly interpret and adapt
to the ever changing regulations and
environmental concerns on a local,
national and global basis,” he added.
“Products which might have difficulty
meeting new environmental or regula-
tory guidelines are being phased out
and replaced with efficacious and more
environmentally friendly biocides.
ISP has responded to these challenges by introducing new low- and
zero-VOC fungicides and bactericides.
“In addition, the principles of green
engineering and green chemistry are an
integral part of all new biocidal product
development at ISP,” said Woods. “Early
on in the movement to greener chemical
products and ingredients, ISP developed solvent-based products that had
low VOC content. Since then, ISP has
developed zero-VOC aqueous biocidal
products as part of our CleanGuard initiative, whose mission is to provide lowor no-VOC biocidal protection using
well accepted active ingredients specially formulated to eliminate any hazardous components.
Arch Chemicals developed a dual
active, broad-spectrum biocide (EPA
registration pending) for the preservation of industrial water-based products
against bacteria, yeasts and fungi.
“This technology is an aqueous dispersion of 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one and
zinc pyrithione, does not contribute to
VOC total of finished product, can be
added hot to products across a wide pH
range and and may be able to be used
(where approved) in products where
formaldehyde and CMIT use is
restricted,” said Kenline. “This product
is well positioned not only for today’s
regulatory environment but will serve
the industry well for many years.”
In anticipation of environmental legislation Troy has developed products
that meet both performance needs and
regulations. “Troy has developed high
solids content, no VOC in-can preservatives, formaldehyde-free products,
and water-based pH neutral products
for safety,” said Susan Ostrowski,
director marketing biocides USA, Troy
Corp. “Additionally Troy works with
customers’ individual systems to custom design the most cost effective, performance system based on individual
or symbiotic product combinations. We
have the microbiology labs to conduct
customer specific testing and can
design a solution for the customer taking into account the manufacturing
environment.” CW
