Coatings World - June 2012

Industrial Coatings Segment Tackles VOC Issues

Previously confined to the decorative

coatings segment, the VOC issue is now at the forefront of industrial coatings as well.

by Sean Milmo Europe Correspondent milmocw@rodpub.com

European regulations aimed specifically at limiting emissions of volatile organic ompounds (VOCs) from coatings have been mainly confined to decorative paints and the manufacture of the coatings themselves.

The last piece of major European Union legislation targeting VOCs was the decorative paints regulation dubbed Decopaint, which in two phases from 2007 and 2010 decreased the VOC content of certain coatings by over 90 percent.

The European Commission, the EU executive which is responsible for drawing up new EU legislation for approval by the European Parliament and EU governments, appears to have abandoned tentative plans to extend VOC limits to other coatings sectors, especially industrial paints.

It has also put aside plans for regulations on interior air quality (IAQ) which would probably trigger not only tighter restrictions on VOCs in decorative paints but also in wood coatings on flooring and furniture and in plastic coatings in household appliances.

Nonetheless producers of industrial paints, especially anticorrosion and protective coatings, have been feeling under pressure to reduce the VOC emissions from their products.

They are being pushed by other legislation not specific to VOCs, new guidance from standards organizations, by customers or by their own environmentally friendly strategies.

“(We’re) not waiting until the last minute for
legislation to show the way,” said Dimitris Lik-
ouressis, group marketing manager at Hempel
of Denmark. “We are trying in all our develop-
ments to explore ways of combining high per-
formance competitive products with the least
impact on the environment. We need (also) to
understand that our customers with their own
sustainability policies have every intention to
work for a safer environment.”
NORSOK, the Norwegian organization that
sets international bench marking standards for
the North Sea oil and gas, energy and marine
sectors, has just been tightening up its VOCs and
other rules. Certain water tanks now have to
have solvent-free coatings under NORSOC.

Among non VOC-specific EU regulations the biggest influence on solvents usage is being exerted by REACH, the region’s legislation on the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals.

It requires that all chemicals manufactured or imported in quantities of 10 tons or more a year will have to be registered with data about their derived no effect levels (DNELs). These show the extent of exposure to a substance below which no adverse effects are expected to occur. The REACH definition of DNEL substances include VOCs.