The era of furniture "oil-to-water" is coming

China Paint Network
News: Not long ago, Beijing (real estate) City issued the "wood furniture manufacturing industry atmospheric pollutant emission standards", which for the wood furniture manufacturing industry put forward the control requirements for atmospheric pollutant emissions, and on July 1 entered the first phase of the standard. The new standard significantly reduces the specified limits for the maximum allowable emission concentration of benzene and particulate matter in wooden furniture. If furniture companies do not retrofit their production lines and still use oily paints instead of water-based paints with lower levels of pollutant emissions, it is difficult for their products to meet the requirements of the new standards, ultimately leading to the inability to sell them on the market. What is the popularity of water-based paint in the current wooden furniture? Why has the promotion of water-like paint been slow over the years? The reporter recently conducted an investigation into this.
China
Coatings
Industry Association released data show that China's paint coating industry annual emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the atmosphere a total of about 4.3 million tons, of which oily paint accounted for about 98%, water-based paint accounted for about 2%. It can be seen that the environmental advantages of water-like paint are obvious.
it is understood that the purpose of the introduction of this standard in Beijing is to promote enterprises to use organic solvent-based coatings (oily coatings) in the past to replace all
water-based coatings
, if not replaced will be completely out of the Beijing market. In accordance with the standard implementation date, the requirements for the second period will be implemented from 1 January 2017. At that time, Beijing's furniture manufacturing industry will prohibit the use of organic solvent-based (oily) paint spray furniture products.
face such stringent emissions standards, Beijing's furniture companies are eager to change the production process, the most important of which is from oily paint to water-based paint. Reporters found that many Beijing enterprises have completed or are carrying out "oil-to-water", which is a period of time ahead of the above-mentioned local standards in Beijing. In addition to Qu mei, which is listed as a demonstration unit by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, completed the "oil-to-water" process transformation in 2014, TATA and other Beijing brands are also actively promoting the process transformation, and strive to complete the transformation before the date set by the new standard.
industry pointed out that the amount of money needed to complete the transformation is not small, some of the strength of small, irregular furniture enterprises are likely to be "cleaned out" as a result.
water-like paint for furniture not only reduces the emission of pollutants from the manufacturing process, but also reduces health risks for consumers of furniture and wood products.
Zheng Rehong, deputy director of the pollution prevention and control department of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, said: "Furniture produced using water-based paints is certainly better than oily coatings in terms of the impact of VOCs emitted on human health." Although we strongly advocated the replacement of highly toxic coatings with low-toxic organic solvent-based coatings in the early days, and the furniture industry has been doing so, for example, some coatings containing benzene have now been replaced, but the popularity of water-based coatings is still limited.
Why water-based paint is more environmentally friendly than oily paint, the industry explained that oily paint to oil-based substances as a membrane mechanism, the need to dilute or cure organic solvents, the main agent contains formaldehyde, benzene, xylene and other harmful substances, will cause serious harm to the human body. Compared with oily paint, water-based paint is a water-dispersed, diluted coating, characterized by environmental protection and non-toxic, not easy to burn, does not contain benzene, formaldehyde and other carcinogens and heavy metals. Although the main volatiles of water-like paint are found in additives, the content is low and the harm to human health is relatively small.
since water-like paints emit lower levels of pollutants and are healthier for consumers, why has promotion been slow over the years?
industry say the primary resistance comes from the industry. At present, the production and use of water-like paint costs are high. Because it is a new product, so the production of water-based paint is less, raw materials are basically imported from foreign countries, expensive, which makes
coatings enterprises
a lot of pressure. In addition, water-like paint because of the thin paint film, so it has to be used a few more times to achieve the same effect as oily paint. For example, with oily paint brush, may brush "one bottom two sides" is enough, and water-using paint brush, it is necessary to do "four bottom two sides" or "four bottom one side", which not only increases the construction process, but also increases the material and labor costs. Therefore, for furniture enterprises, the cost of water-using paint than oily paint increased by about 20%-50%.
is that the current water-based paint market is not high enough visibility. Some consumers and paint workers are used to oily paint, accustomed to oily paint high plumpness and full closure effect, although they recognize the environmental performance of water-resistant paint, but will also habitually think that water-resistant paint hardness, wear-resistant scratch resistance is poor, and this concept is often difficult to change, need enterprises to strengthen consumer education and market guidance.
third is the loose relationship between the relevant upstream and downstream enterprises. Upstream and downstream enterprises to jointly attack, including equipment, technology, and jointly promote the popularity of furniture water-like paint. Because water-based coatings and oil-based coatings construction process is different, which requires water-based paint manufacturers, manufacturers, water-based coatings equipment manufacturers to work together, according to the characteristics of water-based coatings, design and produce suitable technology, suitable equipment. Shenzhen (real estate) City Furniture Association Vice President Jiang Zhanwei said: "Now
paint manufacturers
and paint application enterprises are very closely linked, but the connection with equipment manufacturers is relatively loose. As the saying goes, like the railway police, each tube is a section, not organically combined. "
the promotion process and speed of water-like paints, consumers are more concerned about the environmental protection and quality of water-like paints." Oily paint environmental performance is poor, but it is said that the use of water-resistant paint furniture is not heat-resistant, easy to scratch, poor hardness, the cup will leave a mark. "The reporter's investigation found that such statements are widely circulated among consumers. So, can the quality of water-like paint be guaranteed?
, it is understood that the current coating industry in the European Union, water-like paint penetration rate has reached more than 90%. However, due to the strict requirements of water-like paint technology, production technology, and other high costs, so it is not popular in the domestic furniture industry, less than 15% of furniture manufacturers use water-like paint.
reporter Yue Gang