Sustainability drives coatings market

At the European Coatings Show in Nuremberg, exhibitors shared their thoughts on current trends and issues in the polyurethane-based coatings market.

By Louise McHenry, Senior Reporter

Sustainability, it’s the word that is on everyone’s lips at the moment, not only in the coatings market, but in the polyurethanes industry as a whole. At the European Coatings Show, held 19-21 March in Nuremberg, Germany, almost all exhibitors had something to say about this key trend in the industry.

Different companies presented different ideas to fit in with this buzzword, from solutions that are based on water rather than solvents, to ‘green’ polyols and raw materials made from renewable feedstocks. Others said that sustainability was about more than just using bio-based materials, it is about developing environmentally conscious processing solutions, and others admitted that the use of bio-based materials is not practical for everyone, at least not yet.

“People associate sustainability with products grown in a field and then cultivated to convert into chemicals. It’s a little bit more detailed than that.  We’ve got to look at all the different aspects,” said Robert Lomax, market analyst, business development, Baxenden Chemicals, in a 19 March interview at the show.

Water-based solutions

Lomax noted that sustainability is one of the core principles within Baxenden’s parent company Chemtura, but since polyurethanes are predominantly based on materials that still come from petroleum and natural gas, it’s a question of “how you can make the most of that topic”. One of the things that Baxenden is trying to do is to convert its customers from solvent-based products to water-based products, such as its Trixene Aqua range of blocked isocyanates, a water-based version of its original Trixene range.

Mark Moody, marketing manager, EMEA, Adiprene/Vibrathane, Chemtura Europe, speaking during same interview, added that both Baxenden and Chemtura produce a wide range of waterborne polyurethane dispersions, as well as low-free isocyanate prepolymers, with a reduced solvent and the VOC (volatile organic compound) content.

Lomax noted that some of the company’s water-based products contain solvents, but Baxenden is working towards being able to totally remove these. “Sometimes you can, sometimes is not possible, but the idea is to minimise the impact,” he said. “The whole industry is driving that way and we are also being driven that way by our customers – and maybe even by consumer pressure.”

Adding renewable resources

For Vencorex, an isocyanates joint venture between PTT Global Chemical and the Perstorp Group, which was formed in 2012, the event was an opportunity to launch its partially bio-based, solvent-free aliphatic isocyanate polymer called Tolonate X Flo 100. The company, headquartered in Saint-Priest, France, said it is made from 25% renewable material, according to French Association for green chemistry (ACDV) standards. Vencorex says that the new product can be used in a large variety of polyurethane and polyurea materials as a cross linker, as a reactive diluent in two-pack systems, and as a building block for resin and polymer design.

Sutin Chamulitrat, vice president, marketing and sales, told UTI in a 20 March interview that sustainability is now a driving force for the company. “We are using it and believing in it,” he said, indicating that Vencorex’s major shareholder PTT Global is highly invested in sustainability and in deriving raw materials from renewable materials, such as palm oil.

Both the Vencorex and Baxenden executives noted that varying chemical legislation across the world affects business, with Moody noting that the strict regulatory system in Europe “can be a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity”. Chamulitrat noted that there may be regulatory differences depending on the regions, but “one thing for sure is that our customers are everywhere” and they take their high standards across the globe.

Moody added that regulatory bodies across the world are talking to their counterparts in other countries in order to be aware of what is being done across the world. Lomax noted that often Baxenden Chemicals has to offer different ranges for Europe and for the US due to differing standards. Even within the US, there are different requirements by state, such as in California, which tends to have stricter rules than other states in America.

“We supply a lot of products for leather coatings; that leather goes into automotive seating. Nobody knows where a car is really going to end up. It could end up in California, therefore anything that California says automatically feeds back into automotive manufacturers around the world,” Lomax noted, adding that this has important consequences for suppliers like Baxenden.

Going green in coatings

When it comes to sustainability, the idea of ‘green’ chemistry is at the heart of speciality chemical producer Myriant’s company focus. Myriant produces bio-succinic acid from renewable, sustainable feedstocks, such as sorghum or industrial dextrose. The bio-succinic acid can be used as a replacement for adipic acid in polyester polyols, which can be in turn used for a variety of coatings applications.

It is not a universal drop-in; this depends on formulation requirements, but “we can achieve comparable performance, not in every instance, but in a majority of formulations,” commented Robert Jamrog, Myriant’s senior director of marketing & products, succinic acid and derivatives, in a 19 March interview at ECS.

The Quincy, Massachusetts-headquartered firm is due to open its first commercial scale bio-succinic acid plant in Lake Providence, Louisiana, in April 2013, which will have a 30-million-lb (13.6 kt) per year capacity initially, with a subsequent capacity of 140 million lbs that will come online in two years, according to Joe Bauer, Myriant’s director, sales and marketing, Americas and Europe.

The two Myriant executives believe that customers are interested in the company’s bio-succinic acid because it can offer price stability over time, compared to the petrochemical sources. “In every year you don’t know if you’re going to be paying 30% less than you paid last year or 70% more so it is very difficult to manage,” Bauer said. “We can come in and say that we can provide you a price that is not only competitive with your current material, but is indexed to corn [or other sugar feedstock].”

The bio-succinic acid is produced by using a bacterial organism to ferment a variety of industrial sugars. Bauer added that having a variety of feedstock materials allows the company more flexibility when it comes to expanding in the future. He noted that the feedstock can change depending on what is available in the area.

“We built in Louisiana because of the availability of sorghum, but if we build plants in Thailand or Brazil, then we may want to be close to where sugar cane fields are,” he said. The company is thinking of building outside the US in the future, possibly in Asia or Europe, but no firm decisions have been made. “It would be more cost-effective to build plants around the world than to transport material,” Bauer noted.

Energy-efficiency in production

At speciality chemical producer Perstorp’s stand, Bo Haggman, director, market development, innovation, told UTI that as well as being able to offer renewable-based products, sustainability is about reducing carbon footprint and providing energy-efficient and low-toxicity products. The Swedish company was showcasing its caprolactone polyols portfolio for coatings, as well as its polyurethane dispersions and waterborne PU resins.

“If we talk about coatings, the sustainability claims to caprolactones is that for two-pack PU coatings, they have very low viscosity, so you would typically use them high-solid, low-VOC coatings, reducing the amount of solvent emissions in the air,” Häggman said.

He added, “The other take on sustainability is that caprolactones give very durable coatings, so these are long-lasting systems, with long-lasting life, that you don’t need to repaint as often.” This durability is a good selling point for caprolactones, which are typically used in niche, high-end markets such as coatings for wind blades, or in aerospace or military applications, where “you have very high demands of durability, toughness, flexibility and abrasion resistance”.

Coatings are a small part of Perstorp’s caprolactones business, “definitely well below 50%”, Häggman said, though he did not specify further. The company is strongest in Europe and the US, but Häggman believes there is a lot of potential to increase market penetration across the globe. He noted that caprolactones are not low-cost products, but are more premium polyols. He said it is not the cost that has so far limited the company’s expansion into Asia and South America, but rather the fact that customers there don’t yet know about the technology.

“If you look at market penetration in caprolactones globally, it is usually well below 10%,” Häggman said. “I think there’s an upside in terms of creating awareness for the technology. And now with more products been readily available, we hope to try and help customers develop their businesses.”

He noted that the caprolactones market was quite tight for a number of years, though this started to change last year. During the crisis years, Perstorp invested in its Warrington, UK facility, doubling caprolactone capacity, and is now ready to increase its business across the world. Häggman noted that in the last year, the organisation has also made significant changes in terms of sales and marketing organisation. Instead of focusing on product applications, the company is focusing on six regions. The aim is to put more emphasis on regional demands. “We tried to delegate the decisions to the regions, and to have the local people who know the local markets best to help develop the company’s strategy,” he noted.

Caution and optimism

Looking at 2013, Häggman said Perstorp was “cautiously optimistic” following the first quarter, but that he sees the market being fairly promising for polyurethane in coatings. Though Europe is “still a bit flat”, both North and South America are positive for Perstorp. “I think in North America, it is perhaps – in my personal view – where we see the strongest trend,” he said, adding that the market is starting to grow again.

For Vencorex: “Volume wise, we are not exceeding what we expected in Europe, but we are taking advantage of being global,” Chamulitrat added.

Moody said that for Baxenden, things are “okay globally” and that in terms of the current economic climate in Europe, the company is “not doing too badly”. Lomax added that feedback from customers suggests that the industry is in a cautious mode, but “I get the feeling that things are getting a little bit better,” he said. He added that this is also evident by the quality of enquiries at this year’s European Coatings Show. “It is far better than it was this time two years ago. If that’s a measure of what is happening in the industry, then it is positive,” Lomax noted.

For Vencorex also, this year’s event has been a successful one with plenty of footfall at the stand. “We are satisfied that we have had really good customer interaction and quality discussions,” Chamulitrat said.