Teknos has announced that it is conducting wide-ranging research to find industrial side streams that can be utilized as raw materials in coatings manufacturing.
“At present we are researching the use of secondary raw materials in many product groups. Bio-based raw materials are already used in various products,” says Laura Kosonen, Teknos’ Product Manager.
The secondary raw materials that Teknos is researching include both products at the end of their life cycle and industrial side streams from which raw material for coatings can be separated.
Intensive Study to Find Alternative Raw Materials
Kosonen wrote her master’s thesis at Aalto University on secondary and bio-based raw materials. The work was commissioned by Teknos. Prior to her current position she worked at Teknos as an R&D Environment Specialist.
In her thesis, Kosonen studied and tested different industrial side streams as secondary raw materials, for example the use of calcinate (iron oxide) as red pigment in coatings. She also explored using glass powder and gypsum as coatings fillers. After this, Teknos has conducted further research on utilizing glass powder as a raw material for industrial coatings products.
“
In our global R&D Inno-team we studied for example the use of recycled grinded rubber powder in flexible coatings and anti-skids. The rubber powder originated from recycled car tires,” says Kosonen.
Research is also ongoing to minimize and better utilize the waste and side streams from Teknos own production that are currently being disposed. At Teknos, material efficiency is already enhanced for example by saving the surplus of a manufacturing batch and using it in production of the following batch, instead of it’s disposal.
High Demands for Raw Materials
“
Coating is a high-technology product and the materials used in it must fulfil strict requirements for technical properties as well as content of hazardous chemicals. Consequently, it is rarely possible to utilize side streams as such. The industry does not yet have specialized resources for processing interesting secondary raw materials. There is a market for an actor that would advance the processing of chemical industry side streams,” says Kosonen.
Kosonen also mentions complying with the EU chemical legislation as a challenge at times, when it comes to secondary raw materials.
The legislation demands manufacturers and importers to know and to report the exact composition of their products and to minimize the concentration of hazardous chemicals in them. Safe use of products must also be communicated throughout the whole supply chain.
Source: Teknos