Despite society’s clear need to move toward more sustainable coating technologies, the reality is that, for now at least, there’s still a place for solventborne systems in the coating industry – for example in ink resins for flexible food packaging, where only solventborne technologies are currently capable of meeting the necessary drying requirements.
When working with solventborne systems, our team, leveraging DSM’s unique toolbox, does everything possible to minimize the effect of solvents and VOCs on people and our environment during the manufacturing process – by recycling coating solvents into energy for use in curing ovens. We’re convinced that, one day, we’ll have a 100% sustainable coatings industry. Until that day arrives, we’re solidly behind making solvents as safe as possible.
Our acrylic resins provide good adhesion to metal and are easy to formulate and proof. Most importantly, our technical team continues to strive for ways to minimize the environmental impact of all our solventborne chemistries by using a higher solid content and milder solvents, which makes them easier to recycle and incinerate.
At DSM, we’re making real progress here – in waterborne alkyds, urethanes, acrylics and urethane-acrylic hybrids. For example, in Asia, where we chair the Waterborne China Platform (WBCP), we’ve helped the entire industrial container market to make the transition from solventborne to waterborne coatings. In years to come, we expect that steady trickle of converts to become a stream.
We still offer solventborne polyester resins for certain specialty applications.
