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10
Dezembro 2011
PAINT & PINTURA
which pose a lower risk to worker
health,” says Hugo Leonardo Gar-
delly, Coatings Business Manager
at Oxiteno.
The world solvent market
amounts to 21 million tons ge-
ographically spread over Asia,
with 35 percent, North America,
with 25 percent, Europe, 28 per-
cent, Latin America, 7 percent,
and Africa/Middle East, with 5
percent. The paint and coatings
industry has been adhering, and
more intensively so for the past
five years, to the restrictions po-
sed on its products in more matu-
re markets, such as North Ame-
rica and Europe. “We can divided
the change in the world of sol-
vents into four long stages: in the
1980’s, restrictions were imposed
on the use of chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs), which were destroying
the highest ozone layer around
the planet’s atmosphere, posing
major risks of skin cancer; in the
1990’s, restrictions were imposed
on the use of hydrocarbons, whi-
ch are highly toxic to man and
fostered the formation of ozone
in the troposphere, a breathable
layer of the earth’s atmosphere
(ozone is a powerful pollutant);
the late 1990’s saw restrictions
extend to the use of solvents with
CMR (Carcinogenic, Mutagenic
or Toxic to Reproduction) proper-
ties; and, in this decade, pro-
ducts have been introduced with
sustainable features, such as
originating in renewable sources,
low potential for forming volatile
organic compounds, low toxicity
and competitiveness, from a com-
mercial standpoint,” says Alexan-
dre Castanho, Global Director at
Rhodia Coatis’ Solvents Business
Unit.
Agro Química Maringá’s Marke-
ting Manager José Antonio da
Costa says that environmental
concerns have led to a growing
replacement of hydrocarbon
(toluene, xylene) and halogenated
solvents with oxygenated ones.
“However, one of the hurdles
preventing oxygenated solvents
from growing even more is their
cost compared to those of other
solvent types.”
Paints based on solvents, whe-
ther or not oxygenated, are still
more used because they display
a better cost-performance ratio,
while the future, by virtue of the
implementation of the Montreal
protocol and the concern about
VOC emissions and other envi-
ronmental issues, favors the use
of high-solids, UV-curing wa-
terborne technologies. “Solvents
produced from petrochemical
sources still prevail worldwide,
but the growth rates associated
with their use have been directly
related to how environment-
-friendly and user-friendly they
can be considered,” says Dipa
Química’s chemical engineer
and environment expert Ingrid
Cristiani.
Colorimetry - Customized
Colors
Most paint companies in Brazil
either already use or are about to
use some kind of colorimetric sys-
tem. This is because these systems
provide a number of benefits to
the paint supply chain and, most
importantly, ensure the standar-
dization of colors.
Constantly evolving, the colo-
rimetry market in Brazil has
been growing together with the
economy, and the demand for
related products keeps pace with
the development and upturn in
business in the automotive and
construction industries, which
includes and reflects in the incre-
ased consumption of decorative
paints.
Another driver of such an outs-
tanding performance in the paint
market is the introduction of
technical standards and the stan-
dardization of quality control
methods within the paint indus-
try, which raises awareness of the
use of spectrophotometers.
Paint manufacturers currently
acknowledge that color is a very
important characteristic of their
products, while the pigments
used represent a significant part
of the cost of their formulations,
leading them to understand that
in order to keep color formula-
tions optimized in quality pro-
ducts, so as to prevent rework,
they need to use colorimetric
systems in their product develop-
ment and quality control activi-
ties.
For decorative paints, companies
are making this adjustment very
rapidly. We feel that Abrafati’s
Industry-Specific Quality Pro-
gram for Decorative Paints serves
as a guide to such adjustment,
raising awareness in paint com-
panies, extending to shops and
even reaching consumers with
quality standards that are com-
mon to all manufacturers partici-
pating in the program. “The PSQ
(Portuguese for Industry-Specific
Quality Program) seal on the
paint container assures consu-
mers that the product they’re
buying has passed strict tests,
including the colorimetric test.
In automotive coatings, there are