Technical > Design Guide > Protecting the Environment

Protecting the Environment

The so-called “Green Movement” is here to stay. And well it should be. Most of us have ignored the environment and contributed to the contamination of the world in which we live. One of the manifestations is the emphasis on VOCs — Volatile Organic Compounds* — and the need to lower and control emission of these chemicals.

Whitford supports this and presents the following to help you understand the restrictions and measure the VOCs you may be emitting.

What are VOCs?
VOCs are those ingredients in a paint or coating, defined as photochemically reactive by the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency, that escape into the atmosphere during the drying or curing process. With some exceptions, organic solvents are classified as VOCs.

In general, Whitford coatings come under the “Extreme Performance” industry  guideline.  (“Extreme Performance” includes coatings exposed to any of the following: the weather all of the time, temperature consistently above 95°C/205°F, detergents, abrasive and scouring agents, solvents, corrosive atmospheres or similar environmental conditions.) This guideline calls for the following limits on VOCs:

Note: some countries measure VOC limits in metrics (grams per liter). To make the conversion, simply multiply the lb/gal by 120. For example: 3.5 lb/gal x 120 = 420 gms/ltr.

A few more things to remember
In most of the United States, regulations permit the averaging of VOCs emitted during a 24-hour period. If you use a low-VOC material, you can also use the same amount of a high-VOC material (as high as the other was low) — provided the total amount of VOCs produced during that period does not exceed the local limits.

There is little question that present VOC limits will be tightened as time goes by.

Southern California, with severe air quality problems, has led the way to more stringent regulations.  Recently, the state raised the transfer efficiency requirement for wood-spray equipment from 40 percent to 65 percent. And legislation now limits VOCs for the “extreme performance” category for coating metal parts and products as follows:

The calculations for these VOCs, of course, exclude the water and other exempt compounds.

Not all the news is bad
Whitford has spent considerable time (and funds) engineering new coatings that conform to, and surpass, the most stringent regulations in the world. Many of our coatings are low-VOC and/or waterborne. We’re developing more products of this type, which will be announced as they come on stream.

If you’d like information on any of these products, or have questions regarding VOCs, please contact your Whitford representative.

How to measure VOCs
There is a simple formula for calculating the amount of volatile organic compounds in any solvent-based coating:

VOCs = Density (lb/gal) x (1 - % solids by weight)

The following examples show how the formula works in several types of coatings. (Note:
these are white coatings with the ratio of Ti02 to resin at 1 to 1; the assumed density of the organic solvent at 7.5 lb/gal; the density of the resin solids at 9.5 lb/gal.)

*Since “VOC” is an American term, the formulae are expressed in the units of measurement used by US regulatory authorities.

If you’d like information on low-VOC products, or have questions regarding VOCs,  please contact your Whitford representative.