Beckers pioneered together with its customers a sustainable ultraviolet and electron-beam technology for coil coating.
Beckers has recently announced that it has successfully developed commercial paint formulations suitable for dual ultraviolet (UV) and electron-beam (EB) curing of coil coatings, that will allow to significantly reduce Volatile Organic Compounds and CO2 emissions as well as enhance efficiency by providing up to twice the surface coverage per kilogram of paint.
These curing processes have a significant potential to reduce the CO2 footprint of coil coating, because they require much less paint and energy. In addition, solid solvent-free UV/EB paint formulations are more sustainable, as around half the volume of paint is needed and they significantly reduce VOCs.
“UV/EB curing allows us to use up to 100% solid solvent-free formulations that are more efficient and provide up to twice the surface coverage per kilogram of paint,” has declared Gavin Bown, the Chief Technology Officer of Beckers. “Compared with conventional gas-fired curing, the UV/EB cold curing process also uses much less energy, facilitates the transition from natural gas to renewable electricity, avoids the use of expensive gas and does not require water for cooling.”
“Additional benefits of UV/EB curing include a lower transportation carbon footprint as around 50 percent less paint is required per m2 surface coverage, and the instantaneous curing process offers the potential for coating lines to run at higher speeds. UV/EB coil coating lines can also be much shorter as they avoid the need for multiple ovens on conventional lines that can each be up to 40 m long,” has explained Eric Fouissac, the president for Southern Europe & Africa at Beckers.
Continuous development for coil coating
The company has been involved in adapting the use of UV/EB curing technology in the coil coating industry and developing the necessary paint formulations since 2005. Beckers has a UV/EB coil coating development lab at its largest site in Montbrison (France) and it is also currently working with customers that are fully replacing their conventional coil coating lines or retrofitting existing ones.
Furthermore, Beckers is constructing a new two-story purpose-built Sustainable Innovation Centre in Liverpool (United Kingdom), which will have a significant focus on developing the next generation of UV/EB solutions.
“UV/EB curing can be easily adapted to the customer’s existing lines and their particular requirements as it requires a much smaller equipment footprint compared with conventional curing. In this way, the technology can simplify coating lines and even has the potential to develop new products, such as more durable products with an additional protective layer,” has added Bown. “UV/EB curing has the potential to fully replace conventional coil coating with a much more sustainable process technology – to fundamentally disrupt and radically change the coil coating industry for the better Our new innovation lab in Liverpool will help us to develop the next generation of UV/EB solutions for our customers around the world.”
“Our team in Montbrison has done a fantastic job in creating a knowledge hub to support our customers to develop their UV/EB lines, but we now need additional capabilities to unlock the full potential of these solutions in the coil coating industry,” has also commented Fouissac.