Innovative technologies are bringing profound changes to the coatings industry

At the 2022 China Coating Ink Summit & Exhibition held in Shanghai on November 15~16, experts and enterprises from the industry analyzed the market trend of the coating ink industry, shared the latest technology, new products and new applications, and provided insight
into the new needs of the future industry.
In particular, the winning products of the "Ringier Technology Innovation Award", which is the vane of the industry, are even more "unexpected"
.

New markets, new demands on the development of coatings

At the 2022 China Coating Ink Summit & Exhibition, Shao Min, director of Ringier Industrial Media Conference, said that China is an important paint producer in the world, and more than 20% of the world's coatings are produced
in China.
According to statistics, the total domestic output in 2021 will reach about 38 million tons, an increase of 16%
year-on-year over the same period of the previous year.
At the same time, China is also an important global paint consumer, and it is predicted that the application revenue of China's coating industry will reach 312.
24 billion yuan
in 2022.

She said that the Asian region represented by China has performed well in the automotive coatings market, with a sales market share and sales market share of 48% and 35.
4% respectively in 2021, while the strong development of electric vehicles has put forward new demand
for the development of coatings.

At present, in the coatings market, industrial protective coatings and architectural coatings are two more important market segments, accounting for proportions respectively 36% and 41%.

Among them, the industrial coatings market has a bullish outlook, with the global industrial coatings market size of about $85.
6 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $112 billion
by 2030.
For architectural coatings, the general environment can find that China is promoting and continuing to promote urbanization, with a target urbanization rate of 70%
in 2030.
The increased demand for urban living space brought about by urbanization and the desire of urban middle-class residents to improve their living conditions are likely to have a profound impact on the housing market, thereby increasing investment in residential construction across the country, which in turn will have a positive impact
on the paints and coatings market.

Yang Yan, Director of Industrial Information at Ringier Industrial Media, said that as the demand for high-performance products in various industries continues to increase, the demand for coatings and coatings will continue to grow
in the next few years.
The global paints and coatings market is expected to exceed 4% CAGR by 2027
.
In addition to the continued strong development of the architectural coatings sub-industry, the demand for some other applications in the overall coatings market, such as electric vehicle coatings, packaging coatings and antimicrobial coatings
, has also brought optimism.

New technology, leading the progress of the coating industry

At the 2022 Coatings Industry – Ringier Technology Innovation Award Ceremony held on November 16, winners from BASF, Dow, Sherwin-Williams, AkzoNobel, Ashland, Bartex, Wanhua Chemical, Evonik and other well-known enterprises shared and witnessed the profound changes
brought by innovative products and technologies to the coatings industry.

From 96 candidates, 41 winners were selected by the professional jury experts: for example, in the category of high-performance coatings, AkzoNobel (China) Investment Co.
, Ltd.
's Interpon D 2550 fluorocarbon powder coating, VOC-free, cost-effective, excellent corrosion resistance; Shanghai Huayi Fine Chemical Co.
, Ltd.
black heat insulation coating can effectively reduce radiant heat transfer and convective heat transfer, and also has excellent adhesion
.
In the resin category, Covestro introduced bio-based water-based curing agents; Wanhua Chemical waterborne WANAMINE®H12MDA system epoxy curing agent, etc.
; Hefei Xuyang Aluminum Pigment Co.
, Ltd.
's multi-color effect mirror pigment is an optical color-changing pigment that presents a "rainbow phenomenon"
under light.
In the category of additives and solvents, Ashland launched environmentally friendly solid polyether thickeners, Merck photoelectric materials scratch additives and so on
.
In the categories of coating equipment, environmental protection equipment and coating testing equipment, Graco, Hanning Chemical and other companies bring innovative products and solutions
.
In addition, this year's "Innovation Team of the Year" award was awarded to the innovation team
of allnex Resins (China) Co.
, Ltd.

The organizer said that in this selection, not only the leading companies will submit their most creative product technologies, but also some new companies that have entered the industry but have unique perspectives and outstanding performances have come up with unexpected product technologies
.

New Trends Recent needs and hot spots

Yang Yan said that looking at the overall situation, the recent needs and hot spots of the paint and coatings industry include: the increasing use of bio-based/bio-fermented materials and post-consumer recycled materials; As the problem of dispersion is solved, the use of nanomaterials is increasing; New technologies related to tactility, scratch resistance, self-healing; New technologies with antibacterial properties (antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal); A completely new technology
in terms of corrosion protection.
These needs and hot spots will undoubtedly become the direction of
enterprise technological innovation.

Experts suggest that with the rapid change of market demand, some companies are actively adjusting the direction of product development: when epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic become a daily routine, a variety of antibacterial agents based on biological, chemical and physical principles have sprung up into the coating track; The state has clarified the "dual carbon" goal and further restricted
the access and use of energy.
When developing coating raw materials, companies will consider the carbon emissions of the production process and the energy saving in the application stage.
Coating manufacturing also needs to seek the most optimal solution from the beginning of the production process, early warning is better than post-event remediation, intelligent manufacturing can do this
.