Revista Paint & Pintura - Edição 229

CLIPPING PAINT&PINTURA | Jan/Fev 2018 | 7 2017 saw a reversal in that trend, leading to an increase in consumption of adhesion promoters.” Since signs of improvement are starting to show in the Brazilian economic scenario, 2018 is now believed to be a more promising year as regards the demand for adhesion promoters, André Moreno Fernandez, of BYK’s coatings additives technical support team, anticipates. “We expect to see that growth especially in maintenance, marine and anticorrosive coatings.” Along with the growing demand come new developments andinnovation.“Developingproductsthatperformbetterat competitivecostsisamajorfactorconsideredinnewproduct developmentactivities.Evonikhasabroadrangeofadhesion promoters on the marketplace designed for several types of systems and substrates that provide a variety of benefits in coatings and printing inks, such as higher gloss, greater flexibilityorhardness,shorterdryingtimes,andcorrosionpro- tection, amongothers. Different grades provideadvantages in different applications,” stresses Evonik Coating Additives business manager Regina Kawai. TINTING SYSTEMS: EQUIPMENT - INDUSTRY INVESTS IN TECHNOLOGY Sturdier, faster, environmentally compliant, cutting-edge machinesinmodern,compactdesignsfeaturinghighdegrees of efficiency and quality. This describes the tinting systems currently available in the Brazilianmarket. Inanongoingimprovementprocess,manufacturersoftinting systems keep comingupwith improvements, whether in te- chnology, design, size, eco-friendliness or capacity, andwith machines that runmoresilent aswell, amongother featured points of difference. AccordingtoReubensDaCunha,Corob’sVPandMDforLatin America,theinnovationsinthisindustryarefocusedonhybrid equipment that is compatiblewithdifferent types of dispen- sing pumps and environmentally compliant, while running with a high degree of efficiency. “Those are the key points informingourdevelopmentofnewproductlines,suchasEVO and EVOflx, for low-to-medium volume retailers, as well as EVOpower, for stores with a higher turnover. These are the machines we’ll be selling in the Brazilianmarket presently.” Thegoodnewsisnotjustaboutinvestmentsinimprovement, asmanufacturers alsoachievedpositive results in thecourse of 2017, according to Vitoria & Cia. marketing manager Va- nessa Vitoria. “We experienced a significant upswing in our tinting system sales for 2017, which grew approximately 20 percent relative to2016.Webelieve that the incentives paint and coatings companies have given to retailers are one of the things that has helped us get where we are right now, as has the diligence with which customers have been in the market for systems featuring lowermaintenance frequency, color repeatability fromone piece of equipment to another, enabling chain stores to ensure consistent colors, including dispensingmachines located indifferent stores, and the fact that retailers have been seeking suppliers that have a solid marketpresenceandatrackrecordofmorethan20yearsstanding by the equipment they providewith after-sales support.” For 2018, Vanessa believes that if the economy picks up, interest rates continue to fall, enabling banks to offer more favorable credit terms, and the GDP does grow, then themarket will thrive. “Manufacturers are also proving interested in keeping up their incentives for retailers, so the latterwill continue investing in their tinting systems.” In Brazil as well as the rest of Latin America, there still is great potential for growth in automation of production processes, ac- cording to Fernando Sano Itaziki, Inkmaker’s director for Central and South America. “Our company’s goal is to be able to help customers transition from that potential to reality, as has been the casemore often inmorematuremarkets. While point-of-sale equipmentisalreadyverywellaccepted,thepotentialforindustrial tintingsystems tobe installed inpaint companyplants is still great, so our focus is on that.” SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY - SÃO FRANCISCO INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX BUILDS CHEMISTRY OF THE FUTURE December 14 saw the Solvay Group hold an event to celebrate its 75 years of business in Paulínia, São Paulo, as well as the 10-year anniversaryofitsimplementationofagreenhousegasabatement facilities, one of the largest global projects ever undertaken by a corporationwithin the scope of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Deve- lopment Mechanism. Thecelebrationhappenedwithinthechemicalcomplexitself,whe- reamajortransformationwasmadewithaviewtopositioningitas a manufacturing platform aimed at sustainability and innovation, thus boosting the company’s growth in linewith green chemistry principles.Tomarkthatchange,thechemicalcomplexhasgaineda newidentity,beingrenamedtheSãoFranciscoIndustrialComplex, asareferencetothesite’soriginsasafarmbythenameofFazenda São Francico, which Solvay purchased back in 1942. On the occasion, Solvay Latin America president José Matias provided details of the transformation that took place at the manufacturing site, and also talked about the investments being made by the company. “Our latest investment, to the tune of R$ 30million, is into doubling our capacity for the Augeo sustainable solvent,whichisproducedwithrawmaterialfromrenewablesour- ces and designed for various applications in paints and coatings, leather,wood,householdcleaningproducts,andairfresheners.We producearound6,000tonsperyearofglycerin-based,oxygenated solvents,andwe’redoublingthatcapacity.Thisprojectisexpected to be rolled out in the third quarter of 2018.” In addition, the company has started up its high-performance, highly dispersible silica (HDS) production line. HDS is used inwhat is known as “green tires”, which reduce both fuel consumption andCO2emission levels, and ispreparingabio-energyproject that is going to involve converting gas-fired boilers to burn biomass instead. SérgioD’Amore,SolvayEnergyServicesdirectorforLatinAmerica, put on a special presentation on the greenhouse gas abatement facilitysetup inPaulínia, SãoPaulo,whosenon-stopoperationhas beenmakinga relevant contribution towardsmeetingBrazil’s car-