ASK Chemicals launches new NECOWEL 900 Series for environmental labelling of decorative coatings
Hilden (Germany), March 8, 2017 – Ecolabels are influencing buying decisions consumers take in their daily life when purchasing decorative coatings. The formulated product can be certified by independent organizations to increase visibility of their environmental friendliness to the consumer. Even though ecolabels are applied to the finished coating, the raw materials used to formulate this finished product need to comply with the different ecolabels in use by the coatings formulators. With regard to the choice of the binder system, the main criteria of all ecolabels are the content of volatile organic solvents, preservatives and other hazardous substances like e.g. PTBBA in the product.
Alkyd emulsions can include co-solvents to support the emulsification process or to adjust viscosity of the emulsion. Raw materials in the binder formulation may include solvents as well. NECOWEL alkyd emulsions do contain neither VOCs nor SVOCs.
Water-based products contain biocides to prevent bacterial contamination. Health hazards need to be listed in the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) with “H317: May cause an allergic skin reaction” or with “EUH208: Contains (name of sensitizing substance). May produce an allergic reaction.” Usually NECOWEL alkyd emulsions contain Methylisothiazolinone (MIT) and Benzisothiazolinone (BIT). NECOWEL 900 Series is free of MIT right from the beginning. Per request, this preservative can be adopted to the needs of the customer.
The concentration of PTBBA (P-Tert-Butylbenzoic acid), as a hazardous substance, may not exceed the concentration of 0,01% when applying an ecolabel for a formulated product. Usually, the production of alkyd resins requires in many cases the use of p-tert-butylbenzoic acid (PTBBA) as chain stopper to adjust the molecular weight and application properties of the resin. With the development of the NECOWEL 900 Series ASK Chemicals R&D team was able to develop a series of alkyd resins that is free of any PTBBA, which makes it ideal to comply with common ecolabel standards.
Last but of course, not least, the newly developed NECOWEL 900 products do not contain any external emulsifiers but rather achieve excellent shear stability and shelf life. The products offer low odor and high gloss. Excellent rheological behavior and drying properties make them an ideal binder solution for the formulation of ecolabel compliant decorative coatings.
