Southern Diversified Products’ Mythic Paint.
lations of IPBC and BIT, respectively. Both these actives are
totally organic and non-metallic, with short half-lives in terrestrial and aquatic environments.”
Eliokem’s most recent contributions to lowering VOC
levels include Pliotec PA91, Pliotec CR30 and Pliotec
PA20. “Pliotec PA91 is an all acrylic latex specifically
designed for low VOC porch and floor applications. It offers
excellent UV resistance, forms film at room temperature
and conatains a low coalescent requirement,” said Valerie
Bokar, communications manager, Eliokem, Inc. “It can also
be formulated under 50 g/ VOC and can achieve flat and
high gloss finishes.
“Pliotec CR30 is a cross-linking acrylic copolymer
designed for permit formulation of garage floor coatings
under 50 g/l VOC without compromising performance,”
Bokar continued. “This resin has excellent water and chemical resistance. Lastly, Pliotec PA20 is a pure acrylic resin
that can be formulated below 50 g/l VOC in several horizontal and vertical masonry coatings.”
Cytec’s resins and additives enable customers to achieve
green certifications by formulating low VOC products that
adhere to the performance requirements specified in the
green certification criteria, according to Bud Equi, global
marketing manager-LCRA, Cytec. “Cytec’s Resydrol,
Viacryl, Additol and Beckopox water-based resin product
lines give our customers the ability to formulate very low
VOC, low odor coatings to replace current solvent-based
products while improving or maintaining performance,” he
said. “Also, our Resydrol water-based alkyd resins used in
trim paints, exterior stains and DTM coatings are based
partially on renewable resources.”
BYK USA is developing informational tools, in order to
help its customers select the additives from its product portfolio that can be used to formulate environmentally friendly
paints and coatings. “These tools provide information such as
VOC, APEO or formaldehyde content, or toxicological information, which formulators can use to determine which BYK
additives can be used to formulate paints meeting regulatory requirements, or standards such as GreenSeal,” said
Kevin Lassila, director of technology, BYK USA.
“Even though BYK additives generally constitute less
than one percent of a coating formulation, paint formula-
Benjamin Moore’s Natura
tors have expressed concern about even the minute quantities of VOC these additives contribute to their systems,”
Lassila continued. “Consequently BYK has been modifying
many of our manufacturing processes to remove small
amounts of residual VOC—sometimes ppm levels—from
our products. BYK’s sister company, Eckhart, has developed IR reflective pigments which reduce heat transfer
through building surfaces, leading to significant reductions
in heating and cooling costs
“Often formulation of low VOC coatings is accomplished
through the use of resin technologies with low glass transition temperatures which enable film coalescence even in
the absence of coalescing solvents, which would contribute
VOC to the formulation,” Lassila said. “The use of these
resins can lead to problems with block resistance and dirt
pickup. BYK has been developing wax and other surface
additives can reduce or eliminate these negative effects.”
Evonik’s Tego Coating Additives & Specialty Resins business anticipated the move towards green raw materials a
number of years ago, according to Christopher Howard,
group leader. “This is why our product development focuses on water, UV or high solids systems,” he said. “The
majority of products added to the Tego portfolio over the
past ten years is low or zero VOC, APE-free, or developed
using exempt solvents.”
The movement towards green building materials in the
U.S. has certainly picked up momentum over the past five
years as consumer awareness has increased. “Previously,
many of the changes were mandated via regulation;
SCAQMD in California for example,” noted Howard. “Now
the consumer is demanding greener products and the
paint companies have also become excellent communicators and marketers in this direction. Five years from now,
we expect that being green will be the key to a company’s
long term viability.
“Since paints and coatings serve the dual purpose of
being both protective and decorative, they are very important in both a practical and fashion sense,” Howard said.
“Therefore, paint and coatings companies can use the green
technology as a platform to provide beauty, protection, and
an environmentally and toxicologically safe environment
for the consumer.” CW
