Greenkote’s thermo-chemical surface modification process lifts the environmental bar

10 August 2015
London

It’s the Holy Grail for any coatings company – deliver enhanced corrosion protection and resistance to wear, but increasingly now with a positive environmental outcome. That is the challenge that Greenkote, the leading green high performance coatings specialist, set itself and which it is now delivering on across a range of industries from the automotive sector through to construction and specialist fastenings, all of which can benefit from using its coatings technology which delivers better performance and is far greener than most other alternatives.

Green issues are fast moving up the agenda across a wide range of manufacturing industries, particularly in Europe and China where new environmental rules are now regularly rolled out which will increasingly impact upon coatings companies. With a traditional zinc based process often consuming significant volumes of water and producing highly toxic wastewater for processing and disposal, the recently implemented Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) Directive gives a clue as to the kind of regulations which could be just around the corner. In the automotive sector, a similar direction of travel has been set with the EU End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive. Indeed, across industry in general, EU guidelines form a reference for regulators to set permit conditions under the Industrial Emissions Directive and all regulated industries are expected to achieve compliance with their Associated Emission Levels (AEL) rules within strict timeframes. Permits for all installations will require updating by early 2018.

One company which is very active in the coating sector is the Anochrome Group. Stuart Rolls, group technical sales director said, “Historically, the coatings industry has had a reputation for generating toxic and hard to process waste. In particular, VOCs are an issue where solvents form part of the process. With new EU and global regulations on emissions a regular part of the operational landscape, for us, choosing a coatings process which is both green and which gives us future proofing in terms of cutting down hazardous waste production was a very important factor, both from environmental and cost perspectives. This is one of the reasons we work with Greenkote, for example, as their coatings process is one of the greenest, yet most efficient on the market at present.”

The Greenkote system also meets EU IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) guidelines. These regulations apply particularly to companies generating VOCs, which are the subject of strict regulatory control, such as those laid out by EU guideline 2010/75/EU. Greenkote processes deliver high performance coating with no VOC emissions, as the system is solvent-free. An added benefit will be lower monitoring costs, as air and water measurements do not have to be taken.

Commenting on the future importance of the green agenda, Greenkote chief executive officer Mark Gore said, “As environmental performance moves up the agenda as a metric in the platings and coatings industry, so companies like Greenkote, which can offer a unique combination of high performance, both from an engineering and environmental perspective, will get stronger. Our technology is in use right across the engineering spectrum, from automotive car parts through to specialist bolt manufacturers working in some of the most challenging engineering environments around the world, where peak performance is essential.”

Before Greenkote, the manufacturing processes associated with many traditional metal coatings were so toxic that China and the European Union had already implemented regulations to prohibit their future use, including plating, zinc flake and hot-dip galvanizing. Those processes produce fumes and waste by-products that are seriously hazardous, both to humans and the environment.

Greenkote’ s thermo-chemical surface modification process diffuses a zinc-based coating into the surface of metal parts through a patented dry thermal process. The processes and coatings are totally free of acids, chlorides, cyanides, trivalent and hexavalent chromium, cadmium, heavy metals, volatile organic chemicals and other hazardous air pollutants, most of which are the targets of current or upcoming stringent regulations.
The technology is designed to reduce waste almost entirely. Even the waters used for post-process rinsing are recycled, and any small amounts of residual zinc oxide dust can be reclaimed. The green and clean Greenkote process therefore helps save on costs, since the elimination of hazardous waste eliminates the expenses of waste clean-up, disposal and reporting.

For details of Greenkote processes and licensing enquiries, please visit www.greenkote.com