Coatings World - June 2012

ters around the world,” Likouressis said.

The industrial coatings market is comprised of a number of diverse segments, such as onshore oil and gas, commercial architecture, general industrial and industrial maintenance. Industrial coatings manufacturers are reporting that the oil and gas and general maintenance segments are driving growth.

According to Likouressis, the oil and gas segment is maintaining very attractive growth. “This is due to all the investment in deepwater exploration and production that is taking place these days, as well as projects related to natural gas, both conventional and unconventional,” he said. “Renewable energy still represents a small part of the global energy portfolio, but it has a positive outlook, despite the obstacles that it faces. Mining and metal processing, water/waste water and other infrastructure segments will also continue to remain attractive in terms of value.” “The industrial maintenance business has offered greater opportunity,” said Spillane. “It accounts for a large portion of the overall business and at favorable margins. New projects or major rehabs are larger in terms of gallonage, but they are harder to secure, have lower margins and show greater lag time in payment.” BASF’s coatings division has invested €1 million in the construction of a new application center in Oldenburg, Germany, to strengthen its global business in industrial coatings. The new center, which includes a spraybooth for large objects, several work rooms and a training and presentation room, will be used for applications in the wind energy sector, as well as for marine and aircraft coatings and an array of applications in diverse industrial segments said the company.

“We are increasingly gearing our business in coatings for wind energy to a global market. At the new application center, we are able to simulate the various painting conditions of our customers worldwide and optimize our products accordingly,” said Dr. Achim Gast, head of post-coatings at BASF.

A wide range of climate conditions can be simulated at the center. As a result of the application tests in Oldenburg, application technologies and processes are already being ideally adapted during development in order to allow smooth and efficient use at the customer’s premises. These tests carried out in advance save money and time for both the coatings division and its customers.

“We also shorten the coordination process when there are
product modifications,” said Lübbo Röttgers, coordinator of the
application center. “This allows us to continuously improve our
product quality.”
BASF’s paint professionals will train their customers at the
new center. In the future, in Oldenburg, they will practice how to
apply BASF products.

Compliance and performance

In recent years, there has been a big shift in the types of products being used for industrial applications. While the products must be highly durable and offer the best substrate protection, they must also comply with environmental legislation.

“The protection of the environment is and should remain a key element in the coatings industry, and not only when legislation is leading the way,” said Likouressis. “The challenge for coating manufacturers is to develop innovative solutions that don’t harm the environment, yet also offer the right value to end-users.

“Water-based coatings are definitely interesting. Hempel was
successful in introducing water-based coatings to the very com-
petitive container market, for example,” said Likouressis. “How-
ever, we expect to see more and more solvent-free products
before the use of water-based products scales up.”
VOC regulations have had an impact on the industrial coat-
ings market. “The Corotech portfolio is still a complete line and
we have worked very hard to ensure all our coatings are com-

BASF offers several products for formulating industrial coatings

BASF offers a number of products to help industrial coatings manufacturers offer safe and durable products.

“Some companies see extra value in solvent-based coatings in terms of appearance and performance, and will continue to
use them while managing the health and safety requirements,” said Gregory Turco, technical manager, BASF Resins. “High solids
and 100 percent solids technologies have continued to improve, and make long-term solvent use more-and-more practical.”
“BASF is committed to the coatings industry,” Turco added. “We continue to invest in new polymers as well as new coatings
additives and better pigments. In the polymer area, we expect to introduce products for metal, wood and concrete during 2012.”
BASF now produces the Sovermol line of polyols for urethane coatings. “This is a high performance line of very high
solids products with good toughness, weatherability and versatility,” said Turco. “We expect our customers will like these
products when they become more familiar with them.“
Other products include Joncryl RPD-950 and Joncryl RPD-980 super-fast curing polyols for urethane coatings. Joncryl RPD-
950 is for automotive refinish and it is dry-to-buffing in just 30 minutes. Joncryl RPD-980 takes the same technology into an in-
dustrial maintenance vehicle, and it provides superfast return to service for active plant environments.

Joncryl OH 8313 and Basonat LR9056 are waterborne polyol and isocyanate combinations that BASF recently introduced. These provide excellent weatherability and chemical resistance.

Acronal PRO 80 is an advanced metal primer resin suitable for heavy duty environments like bridges or for industrial metal products. It supports the use of chrome-free anti-corrosive pigments, and achieves top-tier anti-rust performance.