Advancing Green Coating Technologies

By Cynthia Challener

Driven by a combination of regulatory, market-based, and economic incentives, the adoption of “greener” tech­nologies-here considered to be those that have reduced environmental, health, and safety impacts-has become a critical aspect of day-to-day operations for many companies in the coatings industry. In addition, green technologies today encompass much more than reducing volatile organic com­pound (VOC) content. Now, processes are designed to reduce water and energy consumption, emissions and waste genera­tion, while products in general are more durable, effective, and efficient and often have multiple functionalities, reducing material consumption. Industry professionals must also con­tend with the need to produce greener products that do not sacrifice performance or raise costs prohibitively, and that maintain their environmentally friendly status over the course of their life cycles.

To learn about the most recent developments in green process and product technologies for paints and coatings, Coatings Tech surveyed several members of the coatings in­dustry value chain.