Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Paint and Coating Removal System with Ozonated Foam
EPA Contract Number: 68HERC20C0041Title: Paint and Coating Removal System with Ozonated Foam
Investigators: Kimble, Michael C
Small Business: Skyhaven Systems, LLC
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: I
Project Period: March 1, 2020 through August 31, 2020
Project Amount: $99,999
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase I (2020) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) , SBIR - Toxic Chemicals
Description:
The Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting innovations in paint and coating removal products to replace harmful methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) chemicals widely used by industry and consumers. There are substantive health risks to workers and consumers who use methylene chloride and NMP-containing products, as well as to by-standers, include damage to the central nervous system, heart failure, liver toxicity, liver cancer, and lung cancer. For this reason, the EPA recently enacted a ban on May 28, 2019 prohibiting the manufacture and use of methylene chloride for consumer paint and coating removal products. Accordingly, there is a new market need to develop and introduce a safe paint and coating removal product that can work on a variety of coatings including latex, epoxy, and lacquers without damaging the underlying wood, metal, and synthetic substrates.
Toward meeting this market need, a new product is being introduced by Skyhaven Systems, LLC that produces an ozonated foam that covers the paint and coatings enabling ozone molecules to chemically break down the double bonds in the coatings removing them from the substrates. The use of a foam coating keeps the ozone molecules located at the paint and coating surface minimizing molecular ozone escape to the atmosphere and consumer. With the ozone molecules quickly breaking down the paint and coatings, along with ozone itself breaking down to water and oxygen, there are no deleterious residual chemical effects being exposed to the consumer or worker.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Studies were conducted to identify the necessary ozone concentration and dwell time for an ozonated foam to enable up to 4-layers of paint to be removed from various painted substrates including wood, metal, glass, and brick. An operational ozonated foam paint stripper prototype was developed and used to demonstrate the effective removal of paint from a variety of substrates within a 15 minute dwell time. An analysis of the wood substrate after application of the ozonated foam saw no evidence of grain warpage or liftoff preserving the integrity of the wood substrate.
Furthermore, an analysis of the ozone concentration above the ozonated foam was less than 0.1 ppm which is within the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 0.1 ppm averaged over an 8-hour period making this ozonated foam paint stripper safe to use.
Conclusions:
In this Phase I SBIR, Skyhaven Systems, LLC, has successfully developed and demonstrated an ozonated foam paint stripper that effectively removes paint from substrates in an approach that does not use harsh chemicals such as methylene chloride nor n-methylpyrrolidone. This achievement met the overall objective for the program where we developed an ozonated foam paint stripper prototype and used this prototype product to effectively remove up to 4 layers of paint from wood, metal, glass, and brick substrates.
The cost of this ozonated foam paint stripper is substantially less than commercial methylene chloride-free paint strippers, thus offering an inexpensive and safer paint removal process that does not involve harsh chemicals. This ozonated foam paint stripper enables consumers and professional contractors an effective paint stripper product that is just as fast and effective as methylene chloride- based products, yet that does not contain this hazardous chemical.
The overall paint stripper market is large and growing. This market is still well-served by methylene chloride products in the professional segment, and in the consumer segment numerous methylene chloride free products are already available. The real market driver for using alternative strippers is the recent consumer ban in the US and the already extant ban in both the consumer and professional markets in the European Union. Alternative strippers generally cost more, take longer to work, and do not seem to work as well, which is more of a concern for professional paint strippers than for consumers. With paint removal considerations for buildings, homes, concrete/roadways, bridges, vehicles such as aircraft, as well as niche applications that include old, historical wood furniture, churches, structures, and decorative pieces, the global market for paint strippers was valued at $1.11B in 2019 with predictions that it will grow at a CAGR of 6.8% over the next five years reaching $1.55B in 2024.
For commercializing this novel paint stripper, there are a number of firms in the paint stripper industry offering methylene chloride-free paint strippers that continue to look for innovations in paint stripping products. Continued discussions with these organizations aim to select commercialization partners to continue developing this product with Skyhaven Systems, LLC.
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.