Powder Coatings: Low-Carbon and Environmentally Friendly, Becoming a New Favorite in the Industry

Recently, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Environmental Protection released the "2017 Pearl River Delta Ozone Pollution Prevention and Control Special Action Implementation Plan (Draft for Comments)," which sets forth specific requirements for VOCs emissions in the coating and painting sector. It proposes measures such as staggered production, production restrictions, and shutdowns for coating companies to strengthen VOCs emission control in the Pearl River Delta region, curb ozone pollution in the autumn of 2017, promote a decline in ozone concentration, and improve regional air quality.

In reality, the coating industry, as a key area for VOCs emission reduction, faces significant challenges in pollution control, especially in the application stages. For example, in open-air coating operations such as steel structures, containers, ships, guardrails, and traffic markings, the feasibility of end-of-pipe VOCs treatment is very poor. Although government departments are strongly promoting the use of new materials such as water-based coatings and implementing a "ban" on organic solvent coatings, traditional solvent coatings still account for half of the total market share.

However, the innovation landscape of my country's coating industry has begun to improve, with the application of new materials and technologies in the coating industry showing a continuous upward trend. Data shows that in 2016, my country's powder coating industry output reached 1.7 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 13.4%. Due to its solvent-free, pollution-free, recyclable, environmentally friendly, and energy-saving properties, powder coatings have become a new favorite in the industry, and many large-scale coating companies are planning to expand into the field of zero-VOCs powder coatings.

The coating industry faces a daunting task in reducing VOCs emissions.

Recently, in the seventh round of enhanced inspections by the Ministry of Environmental Protection's Air Pollution Prevention and Control Enhanced Supervision Team, a total of 5,322 enterprises (units) were inspected, and 1,389 air-polluting enterprises were found to have environmental problems. Among them, 536 enterprises had VOCs treatment issues, accounting for 38.6% of the total environmental problems found in this round of inspections. From an industry perspective, coatings and spraying are the primary problems, with many enterprises failing to build or having idle or shut-down VOCs treatment facilities.

"The coating industry is characterized by concentrated emissions and high pollution levels. Approximately 7 million tons of solvents need to evaporate annually, which is more serious than pollution from vehicle exhaust," said Yang Xianghong, a senior coating industry expert and chairman of Suzhou Austin New Materials Technology Co., Ltd.

Yang Xianghong explained that China is a major paint producer, but not a leading one. According to statistics from 1,400 large-scale enterprises, the output in 2016 was close to 20 million tons, with a value exceeding 400 billion yuan. However, China lacks core technologies for some high-end paint products, and even the paint used in high-speed rail largely comes from foreign companies. "A large number of low-end paint products have become the main source of VOCs emissions in the industry. However, due to various factors, solvent-based paints will still have huge market demand for a certain period."

It is understood that VOCs emissions have always been a key issue for green environmental protection, and the paint industry, as a major emitter of VOCs, has repeatedly appeared on the list of polluting industries. The Ministry of Environmental Protection's "13th Five-Year Plan for Volatile Organic Compound Pollution Prevention and Control" proposes to focus on promoting VOCs emission control in industrial coatings for manufacturing industries such as containers, automobiles, and furniture, and to promote the use of water-based paints and high-solids powder paints in related fields. However, Yang Xianghong pointed out that these two types of paints still contain a certain amount of solvents, and monitoring and controlling related emissions during open-air use presents certain difficulties.

The market share of powder coatings is continuously increasing.

Powder coatings are solid powder coatings that exist in the form of fine powder. They are transferred to the substrate in powder form, then baked, melted, and cured to form a film. Yang Xianghong stated that powder coating production achieves zero waste and zero pollution, and the scraps generated during production can be largely recycled. Powder coatings can meet the needs of multiple fields for corrosion protection and decoration, and have a high powder utilization rate. For the same film thickness, powder coatings can cover more than twice the area of ​​traditional solvent-based coatings. From a cost perspective, powder coatings are also the cheapest among commonly used types of coatings.

Currently, powder coatings are widely used in household appliances, automotive wheels, metal doors and windows, and other fields, with the industry's market share continuously rising, currently reaching approximately 10%. It is understood that Chinese powder coating companies are mainly distributed along the coast, with the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Bohai Rim regions accounting for 94% of the country's powder coating sales.

"A 10% market share tells us that powder coatings, meeting both environmental and market demands, have become the third largest category of coatings after latex paints and solvent-based coatings. If we want to further promote the rapid development of powder coatings, we must address its weaknesses. If we can successfully lower the curing temperature, we can not only significantly reduce energy consumption during the coating process but also expand the application range of powder coatings," said Yang Xianghong.

It is reported that the Guangdong Provincial Coatings Industry Association recently organized a seminar with several coating companies and experts to discuss the application of powder coatings in the wooden furniture industry. At the seminar, the association's secretary-general, Lü Shuilie, suggested that the environmental transformation and upgrading of coatings should comprehensively consider various solutions and should not be limited to water-based approaches. The combination of powder coatings and wooden furniture deserves attention and consideration.

The Coatings Industry Faces Challenges in Transformation and Upgrading

According to the "13th Five-Year Plan for Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Pollution Prevention and Control," by the end of 2017, 60 container manufacturing enterprises with a production capacity of 5.6 million TEUs were to complete the replacement of coatings with water-based environmentally friendly coatings and construct end-of-pipe treatment facilities; by the end of 2020, 13,000 automobile manufacturers, 3,400 wooden furniture manufacturers, 600 shipbuilding enterprises, 1,300 construction machinery manufacturers, and 5,000 steel structure manufacturers nationwide would complete the replacement of coatings with low-VOCs, the transformation of low-VOCs emission coating processes, and the construction of end-of-pipe treatment projects.

Yang Xianghong stated that to achieve the above goals, the upgrading and transformation of the coatings industry is imminent. Currently, the annual consumption of coatings in China is approximately 25 million tons, with traditional solvent-based coatings accounting for about 54%, water-based coatings about 35%, and powder coatings about 10%. To eliminate solvent-based coatings, it is necessary to increase investment in the research and development of core technologies, formulate stricter VOCs emission standards, and accelerate the upgrading and transformation of outdated production capacity. Meanwhile, the government should also expedite project approvals and provide strong support for the application of new materials and technologies. Yang Xianghong cited an example: for the same production capacity, powder coating companies require only half the land area and have half the production costs of traditional solvent-based coating companies. By supporting the development of new materials and technologies to achieve mass production, outdated and inefficient production capacity will naturally have to be upgraded or eliminated.

In Yang Xianghong's view, if powder coatings are to be widely promoted, companies' existing production and coating equipment will need to be replaced, and the existing production, sales, and consumption chain will need to be broken, which presents certain challenges. "The head of a leading domestic agricultural machinery company said that water-based coatings are too troublesome and expensive to use, and if powder coatings are used, too many things need to be changed. Traditional coatings are still more comfortable to use. Therefore, what needs to be changed is not only technology but also mindset. The government should adopt drastically different policies for new and old technologies, supporting what should be supported, restricting what should be restricted, and eliminating what should be eliminated. Only in this way can the overall level of the coating industry be improved."