16.6 A New Approach for Preservation of Coatings Formulations
(Room 234-236)
11 Apr 18
12:30 PM
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1:00 PM
Tracks:
Session 16: Biobased Coatings, Session 16: Bio-Fouling & Microbial Protection
In today’s globalized architectural coatings market there is free movement of raw materials and technology across international borders. This globalization has provided benefits, however as global supply chains become interconnected and interdependent there is greater potential for disruption from regional regulatory changes. While any raw material can potentially be impacted, the antimicrobials (biocides) used in coatings pose a unique challenge to formulators, as they are often subject to obscure regulatory provisions.
Regulatory trends for preservatives have severely limited the options for in-can protection of paints and coatings. More recently there have been proposed changes in the hazard communication requirements for a commonly used preservative active agent. These changes will cause the presence of many commonly used preservative systems to trigger consumer unfriendly hazard labeling on the associated paint containers. These hazard phrases can alarm consumers, and alter their buying behaviors.
Past approaches to developing preservative blends which avoid triggering hazard phrases have focused on using a combination of active agents selected such that each active is present below its trigger concentration. This approach assumes a future regulatory environment where the active agents will always be considered independently, and the individual preservative concentrations will never be summed together and considered as an aggregate total preservative load. Under this label driven approach, switching preservative systems to avoid hazard phrases can have the odd result that the total amount of preservative active agent present in the coating formulation actually increases. Therefore any subsequent regulatory change in the trigger concentration of any of the actives in the blend, or any movement towards consideration of preservative loading as an aggregate, requires a time consuming re-qualification of a readjusted preservative system.
This paper describes how a novel formulation approach was used to create a more efficient preservative system. This innovative approach makes it possible to lower the total amount of preservative active agent present in the preserved coating formulation, and therefore it provides a protection system that is more robust against future regulatory changes. Supporting data and examples are provided from regions where this new technology has already been commercialized.