Chemical Engineering December 2014 - 23

Newsfront
AdvAnced coAtings
for new ApplicAtions
New formulations allow industries to evolve,
and reduce labor costs and environmental concerns
C
hanging markets and new applications
are putting more demands
on the protective coatings
industry than ever before.
While developing environmentally
friendlier and less labor-intensive
corrosion- and chemical-resistant
paints and coatings is always a major
goal, new formulations are needed to
address the coating challenges presented
by today's changing chemical
process industries (CPI), as well as
modern construction and other engineering
capabilities.
" Reduction of VOCs [volatile organic
compounds] and labor costs
will always be sought after goals in
the protective coatings industry, but
we are beginning to see additional
needs emerge as there is an increase
in operating temperatures in many
applications, especially in oil-andgas
and chemical processing, as well
as more and more astounding feats
of engineering cropping up, " says
Jerry Witucki, associate coating scientist
with Dow Corning (Midland,
Mich.; www.dowcorning.com).
New applications
" Enormous structures, such as mega
skyscrapers and wind turbine farms,
especially those in the middle of the
ocean, not only have the initial challenging
performance requirements,
but also, the owners don't want to
send someone up or out to repaint
them, " explains Witucki. " They need
a protective coating that will last for
decades, which is placing demands
on coatings that simply haven't existed
in the past. "
In addition, he says, even everyday
applications, such as chemicalprocessing
equipment and bridges
require more from coatings than
ever before because shutting down
a process or bridge to paint is becoming
cost prohibitive in today's
competitive economic environment.
And, in many industries, temperatures
are increasing, which piles
on additional demands. " People
want to operate their lines faster,
so they heat up the oven to higher
temperatures or, for better emission
control, they may turn up the
heat in a catalytic converter to ensure
complete combustion, so they
are looking for coatings that provide
longer-lasting performance at
higher temperatures, " says Witucki.
" It costs a lot in lost production
time and labor to have someone repaint,
so between labor costs, shut
down costs and environmental costs,
the actual cost of the paint or coating
is no longer the primary consideration
for the end user, " says Witucki.
" They are willing to absorb the cost
of a more expensive paint if it means
it won't have to be applied as often. "
He says, in the past, organic
resins were the " go-to " coating for
many of these applications, but with
more demanding criteria, the existing
formulations were not working
as well, so coatings manufacturers
started seeking new ingredients
and additives that would boost the
durability and life of their coatings.
Dow Corning, says Witucki, strives
to create materials, such as siliconeorganic
hybrids, which possess
greater thermal stability and better
chemical resistance when added to
coating formulations. " We've seen
a steady increase in the number of
Source: SiVance, a
subsidiary of Milliken
Figure 1. SiVance's C1008 is a silicone
curative that improves the durable flexibility
of epoxy polysiloxane protective topcoats in
marine and infrastructure applications
U.S. patents using silicone-organic
hybrids, to the point where 10% of
all U.S. paint patents as of 2013 incorporated
silicone-organic hybrid
technology, " notes Witucki.
Jeff Jones, business development
director with SiVance, LLC, a subsidiary
of Milliken & Co. (Gainesville,
Fla.; www.sivancellc.com),
agrees that new ingredients are the
key to developing better coatings for
changing applications. " In the oiland-gas
industry, especially, they
are seeking protective coatings that
are more durable to higher temperatures,
higher pressures and nastier
mixes of chemicals at those higher
temperatures than ever before, " he
says. " In these applications, they
were finding a lot of the coatings
they had been using for tank and
pipe linings were just not durable
enough for the higher temperatures
and new mixtures of chemicals they
are seeing today. " One of the reasons
is that the products resulting from
hydraulic fracturing are very different
and more corrosive than the traChemiCal
engineering wwww.Chemengonline.Comm DeCemBer 2014 23
http://www.sivancellc.com http://www.dowcorning.com
Chemical Engineering December 2014

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