www.paintshow.com.br
Julho 2009
PAINT & PINTURA
turing process, washes it with water, and sends that impure
water to a treatment tower based on a biotechnological sys-
tem that returns to the atmosphere more than 95 percent of
the treat air free of chemical contaminants.
“This process is compliant with the Kyoto protocol and
makes Star Química and ally to it, as it directly contributes
to reducing global warming. This is our concern: ensuring
a better quality of life for our employees, customers and the
entire planet,” says sales director Jaime Vieiro, remembering
that the company was presented with the 2008 Outstan-
ding Environmental Preservation Certificate thanks to that
process.
As an all-Brazilian business, Star Química has also stood
out as the nation’s pioneer in waterborne technologies for
automotive refinish by launching the Acquastar refinish sys-
tem. “The products from this environmentally friendly line
are innovative in the refinish market and have been entirely
developed in the Star Química Research and Technology
Center,” says Vieiro. This product line was introduced to the
automotive refinish market, insurance carriers, universi-
ties, institutes and other agencies related to the automotive
industry and environmental preservation at a launch event
held in early June at Cesvi Brasil, in São Paulo, including
a demonstration of uses and applications of all Acquastar
products.
Acquastar environment-friendly is the only comprehensive
environment-friendly product line in the domestic market,
according to Vieiro, consisting of a PU primer, a base coat
and a PU clear coat, all of which having a special feature:
they are diluted in water at rates in excess of 80 percent for
the primer and base coat, and in excess of 50 percent for the
clearcoat.
In the full version of this interview, available in Portuguese
only, Star Química’s sales director talks about the company’s
history, activities and plans for the domestic market, parti-
cularly for the automotive refinish market segment.
Industry & Business - Partnership announced
MAST, the exclusive distributor of BYK-Gardner products
in Brazil, has entered into yet another major partnership
to provide customers with products and services from Q-
Lab, an expert in lightfastness and weathering resistance
testing. Q-Lab, formerly known as Q-Panel, was founded
in 1956 by George Grossman, who started out by manufac-
turing substrates for coatings and in 1970 created his first
UV (ultraviolet) system called QUV. It’s a UV/condensation
chamber for accelerated weathering testing that simulates
the degrading effects of sunlight, rain and dew on product
surfaces. Other very important pieces of equipment in the
Q-Lab product range are the Q-Sun xenon light chambers
and the Q-Fog cyclic corrosion testers, for the anti-corrosive
coatings market. All products from Q-Lab are designed to
provide simpler, more effective lightfastness, weathering
resistance and durability testing solutions. In addition to
supplying its equipment, Q-Lab provides natural weathe-
ring testing services that are a benchmark for the industry
worldwide.
Hydrocarbon Solvents - New generation
With the major trend towards using environmentally frien-
dlier products, there has been a fall in hydrocarbon solvent
consumption in the paint industry. As companies are now
making efforts to provide environmentally friendlier pro-
ducts, one of the solutions found was developing less har-
mful hydrocarbon solvents, replacing more toxic substances
with other lighter ones to meet world market requirements.
Fortunately, the Brazilian market, like its counterparts in
the Northern Hemisphere, has demonstrated a preference
for using solvents that have no undesirable characteristics
as regards the environment and human health. In the paint
industry specifically, companies have pursued new goals,
consisting of low odor formulations which contain none
of the more harmful compounds. For example, very little
toluene has been used in paint formulations lately, while
the use of xylene decreases by the day. Also, the levels of
aromatic substances in aliphatic hydrocarbon solvents will
be decreased to prevent any restrictions to these products in
the short term.
Investment - DuPont invests R$ 4.5 million to open new
Innovation and Technology Center in Brazil
DuPont announced on July 1st, 2009 the opening of its
newest Innovation and Technology Center. Located in the
city of Paulínia, São Paulo, the new facilities will serve as
a research and development center for new solutions for
customers in Brazil and all of Latin America. With the new
facilities, DuPont can conduct studies for a wide variety of
applications not only to launch new products, but also to
improve existing technologies. The customers of several divi-
sions in Latin America, such as Fluorine Polymers, Advanced
Fibers, Industrial Polymers, Engineering Polymers, Chemical
Solutions, Nonwovens and Titanium, can now benefit from
this differentiated service to develop new applications.
Packaging – Drums and Containers
Large volumes
Drums and containers are used in some of the major
industry segments, such as chemicals and petrochemicals,
agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, foods, essences and cosme-
tics, and, of course, paints and coatings. Those packaging
materials are used mostly for raw materials, but also for
finished goods.
Because of their extensive use, there are some regulations
that these packaging materials need to comply with before
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