Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PULVERCOAT (Low Curing Temperature and Energy Efficient Powder Coatings)

Teaser

Worldwide demand for powder coatings has increased over the last few decades based on their excellent durability and finish, easy application and low environmental impact. Thermosetting powder coatings cure between 180ËšC-200ËšC and need beyond 20 minutes curing depending on...

Summary

Worldwide demand for powder coatings has increased over the last few decades based on their excellent durability and finish, easy application and low environmental impact. Thermosetting powder coatings cure between 180ËšC-200ËšC and need beyond 20 minutes curing depending on the resin and cross linker used. Its application takes place in big ovens (2x7m2) and the energy consumed during the curing process represents nowadays 50% of the total operational costs of the applicators, which are either coating enterprises or directly product manufacturers (OEMs). A major challenge for powder coating manufacturers is therefore to offer their customers more energy-efficient products by reducing the polymerization temperature and increasing the speed of the reaction.

Pulverit has developed PulverCoat as a disrupting coating solution that (1) enables the application of solvent free, high performance powder technology to heat sensitive substrates such as plastic and wood, substituting common liquid paints and reducing VOCs emission from the paints; and (2) reduces energy consumption and curing times of existing metal powder coating process: 3-5 minutes curing at 110ºC-130ºC will save 40-70% of total energy costs and up to 90% reduction in curing time, reducing the financial and environmental impact of this operation.

The principal objective of PulverCoat is industrializing and introducing in the powder coatings market a low curing temperature and time product.

At the technical level, the objectives of PulverCoat Phase 2 are:
(1) Further optimization of the powder coating formulation so as to improve, resistance to UV yellowing-ageing and adhesion to MDF substrates through the use of proper silanes or with a modification of the backbone of the resin used for the project.
(2) Achieving the most reduced pre-polymerization degree of the powder to ensure homogeneity and high quality of surface. For this purpose, a special extruder was designed in order to avoid peaks in temperature and to reduce as much as possible residential time in the extruder of the reactive phase.

The pre-commercialisation stage will require reaching the following objectives:
(1) Scale-up the production of PulverCoat to reach 600 kg/h, i.e. 1,000 tons/year.
(2) Certificate our product according to Qualicoat, Qualideco, GSB International, RINA (Registro Navale Italiano), FDA and EN71-3/2013 regulation for toys. (2) Achieving an Ecolabel for showing our customers the environmental friendliness of PulverCoat.

At a commercial level, the objectives of PulverCoat are:
(1) Introduction of PulverCoat in the market by end of 2020
(2) Expanding our international scope within the EU thanks to the increase in production of our facilities
(3) Reaching wood and plastic applications in architectural, appliances, furniture and sports and leisure segments.

Work performed

During this first year of work on Pulvercoat’s project we have followed a flow chart starting with the development of a Pulvercoat formulation to get the validation of the industrial production. In the first phase, called Powder Improvement, in order to find out a final product that is possible to be used in all our formulation, we started with the improvement of the resin and we have achieved a final set of powder formulations that are validated through several tests performed in our laboratory. A special part of this improvement was dedicated to the achievement of a powder coating formulation especially designed for wood and wooden substrate. Indeed the coating market for wood substrate is so huge and performances required are so high that is impossible to attack this business without having a proper product.

After the achievement and the validation of PulverCoat formulation the attention was focused to the production of this special type of powder coating dividing the industrial production process into two parts: (1) optimization of the process set up concerning mixing and extrusion process; (2) scale up of Pulvercoat production.

In the first part of this task all the parameters that usually have an influence on the final result of coating’s properties were analysed and, since we have found out a set of mixing and extruding time and temperature safe enough to guarantee no deviation from the starting coating’s properties, we started with the scale up of the production.

One of the big impacts in terms of time and resources during this task was the analysis about the storability of the product that is clearly influenced about the process parameters: big attention was paid to find out the safest set of production parameters without reducing the shelf life of the product.

The scale up process was done with the achieved target to be able to produce 30 Kg batch. During this period, we have decided to anticipate part of the tests needed to be certified under the defined standards, in order to be completely sure about our improvement of the formulation and also about the scale up of the process. All the certifications done before the expected deadline were done in order to avoid any delay in the second part of the project.

Linked to the preparation of the optimal formula, we have also anticipated the trials performed with end users. This important part of the job was done to be ready to produce and sell an innovative coating and to be sure about its performance after the application in an industrial plant. In fact, even if all the tests carried out in laboratory on a product produced in a pilot plant are good, it doesn’t mean that the same behaviour is observable on the same coating applied in a different way. This operation allowed us to be sure about the “safe window” of application parameters in an industrial plant that guarantee the same performance of coating applied and tested in laboratory.
The results of this tests also gave us the possibility to adjust the formulation, following the indication given by industrial trials.

In parallel we have started the promotion of PulverCoat through various activities as organization of workshops, participation in trade fairs (ALUMINIUM 2000 and LAMIERA 2019) and publication of results on magazines. Moreover, we have created a dedicated project website in order to increase PulverCoat’s visibility and impact.

Final results

PulverCoat is a disrupting coating solution that enables to extend the application of solvent free, high performance powder technology also to heat sensitive substrates such as plastic and wood, substituting common liquid paints and reducing VOCs emission from paints.

We expect PulverCoat to have a significant impact on various aspects:
(1) Industry: Pulvercoat reduces energy consumption and curing times of existing metal powder coating process: 3-5 minutes curing at 110ºC-130ºC will save 40-70% of total energy costs and up to 90% reduction in curing time.
(2) Society: reduction of VOC emissions due to the use of Pulvercoat instead of liquid paint and powder coating.
(3) Company: the benefit Pulverit will obtain from PulverCoat’s market uptake is to double the actual turn over by the end of 2025; it means to add other 5.000 tons at the actual production of 10.000 tons. Moreover, we forecast to add 25% job positions in Pulverit by 2025.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.pulvercoat.com/.