Water-borne coatings gaining traction

Although solvent-borne coatings have their place in the market, the percentage of water-borne coatings in the global paint and coatings market should hold stable or grow in the coming years as performance improves and the need for more sustainable products continues.

Global overview

Water-borne coatings are estimated to be just 50 % of the volume of the global paint and coatings market. Of the estimated 48 billion litres of paint coatings sold globally, 24.4 billion is estimated to be water-borne. In value terms, we estimate the global market for water-borne coatings to be EUR 82.1 billion of the estimated EUR 178 billion global paint and coatings market.

Most of the market for water-borne coatings is in the decorative market. Of the 24.4 billion litres of global water-borne coatings we estimate that 88 % of it or 21.5 billion litres is in the decorative market. Within the non-decorative industrial coatings market, water-borne coatings are spread out among various segments.  Some of the major ones include automotive and transportation, wood, and traffic marking paints.

On a regional basis, Asia is the largest market for water-borne products. That is not a surprise since Asia comprises an estimated 57 % of the volume of the global paint and coatings markets.  All the major markets in Asia including China, India, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and Central Asia have significant decorative coatings markets and thus have significant water-borne markets.

The chemistries of water-borne coatings include acrylic-based formulations (including 100 % acrylics, styrene acrylics, and vinyl acrylics) as well as latex chemistries like poly-vinyl acetates.  Additionally, polyurethane dispersions or PUDs have seen lots of growth over the years. PUDs still make up a relatively small percentage of the water-borne market at an estimated 1.5 % but they find their use in wood, flexible packaging, transportation, and other coatings segments.  Finally, water-borne epoxy is another large chemistry segment of the market. Water-borne epoxies are mainly used in automotive, transportation, and general industrial segments of the market.

Advantages and disadvantages of water-borne products

Water-borne coatings are favoured for their low volatile organic compound (VOC) content, which makes them favoured by paint and coatings companies trying to promote more sustainable products. As governments around the world implement more stringent VOC requirements, this has resulted in a shift towards more water-borne products.

One interesting trend occurring in various markets is that while the gram per litre of the paint and coatings is still important, some regulatory authorities are becoming more concerned about the total site emissions; meaning the total VOC emissions of a factory or building site. This is especially true in urban areas where there is more of a concern about the adverse effects of air pollution.

Despite the benefits of water-borne paint and coatings, there are some drawbacks. In some cases, water-borne products are more expensive than the corresponding solvent-borne products. Also, the water-borne products sometimes do not perform as well as the corresponding solvent-borne products. Durability, adhesion, and drying time can be worse with water-borne products.

Another issue is that some water-borne products can have a larger carbon footprint. The energy to dry or cure a water-borne can be more than that of a solvent-borne product. As we all know, carbon footprint issues are becoming more and more important factor in the paint and coatings industry.

Some other drawbacks of water-borne coatings is that their cure time can be humidity and temperature sensitive, moisture sensitivity (until fully cured, water-borne products are more sensitive to rain, dew, and condensation), and there are shelf-life and storage concerns (damage upon freezing).

Most of the above concerns are being worked on by the raw material suppliers and paint and coatings companies. Recent advancements in water-borne paints and coatings have focused on enhancing sustainability advantage and performance attributes of the paint and coatings.

• Continued use of WB for current paint and coatings systems: When we interview users of paint and coatings, there is continued demand for water-borne products. Applicators and end users of paint and coatings like water-borne paint and coatings since they provide better and safer working conditions for the contractors and factory workers.
• Continued improvements in sustainability: Paint and coatings companies as well as raw material suppliers continue to look for ways to remove or eliminate toxic or non-environmentally friendly products from water-borne paints. For example, using less harmful biocides is a major focus area.
• Faster curing systems: Paint and coatings companies continue to look for opportunities to speed up the curing process for water-borne products. Also, some work is being done on reducing the temperature for curing. Temperature reduction also helps reduce the carbon footprint of a coating solution. Some of this work is related to the curing agents that are used.
• Durability: To address the durability concerns, more water-borne 2K epoxies and urethanes are being developed. Also, some hybrid systems like alkyd-acrylics and silicone-acrylics are being developed, which improve durability.
• Better adhesion: New formulations are being developed with better adhesion to less than ideal prepped surfaces.

Also, there are raw materials that use bio-based products, and thus further enhance the sustainability advantages of water borne products. The paint and coatings industry needs to continue pushing these advances forward, so that water-borne products can continue to grow, and applicators and end-users can continue to reap the benefits of using water-borne products.

Conclusion

Water-borne coatings are an important part of the global paint and coating industry. They continue to be mostly used in decorative coatings but are also growing in the non-decorative industrial coatings segments. Cost, performance, and application issues have resulted in less use of water-borne products in the non-decorative industrial coatings segments. But advances in chemistries and formulations are results in more and more use. As the technology improves, we expect more use of water-borne coatings dues to their inherent sustainability advantages.

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