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EVALUATION OF SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE SOLVENT IN SPRAY COATING APPLICATIONS
Citation:
Heater, K. J., R. F. Olfenbuttel, AND A. B. Parsons. EVALUATION OF SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE SOLVENT IN SPRAY COATING APPLICATIONS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-94/043 (NTIS 94-160629), 1994.
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
This evaluation, part of the Pollution Prevention Clean Technology Demonstration (CTD) Program, addresses the product quality, waste reduction, and economic issues of spray paint application using supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2). Anion Carbide has developed this technology and is currently marketing this process under the UNICARB trademark. In the UNICARB process, supercritical CO2 is used to replace some of the solvents in conventional coating formulations. The CO2 acts as a diluent to reduce the viscosity of the reduced solvent coating formulation for spray application; it also aids in-the spray atomization process CO2 is introduced into the paint stream by means of specialized equipment developed to automatically meter and mix the CO2 in the right proportions for optimum coating application. The net result of using the supercritical CO2 process is a reduction in VOCs emitted during the coating process. This report reviews the UNICARB process as it is used in the application of nitrocellulose lacquer finish on a chair finishing line at the Pennsylvania House Furniture Company in White Deer, Pennsylvania. It also provides a comparative analysis between the conventional spray application methods previously used on the chair finishing tine and the new UNICARB process. This report demonstrates that use of the UNICARB process can result in a net reduction in VOCs without increasing other wastestream products or disposal costs or negatively affecting product quality. The equipment costs and other factors that affect the return on investment for this process can be variable, but a payback period of 5 years is estimated for the process as implemented at the White Deer facility.