Products Finishing

JUN 2017

Products Finishing magazine is the No. 1 industrial finishing publication in the world. We keep our readers informed about the latest news and trends in plating, painting, powder coating, anodizing, electrocoating, parts cleaning, and pretreatment.

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PFonline.com/experts 40 JUNE 2017 — PFonline.com DR. PAVEL SVEJDA Dürr Systems AG Dr. Svejda is the key account manager for Application Technology for Dürr Systems AG. Visit durr.de. How to Make Automotive Paint Shops More Sustainable A. Sustainability combines ecological, economic and social components. These objectives have been given a high priority in production technology. They link profit-seeking to questioning how the profits are generated. Practically all OEMs have set the goal of ensuring sustainability and at the same time, efficient production. For all of these considerations, paint shop efficiency is the focus. It is still by far the biggest VOC emission source and the biggest energy consumer. Painting accounts for almost 100 percent of all VOC emissions in an auto- motive plant and well over 50 percent of total energy consumption. Where can improvements in efficiency be achieved? • Process efficiency: high plant availability, high first run rate and high flexibility • Emission efficiency: lower VOC, CO 2 and partic- ulate emissions, less noise and malodorous emissions • Energy efficiency: innovative products and systems with minimal power consumption • Material efficiency: high paint application effi- ciency and low flushing losses of the application technology, minimal water consumption • Space efficiency: intelligent layouts and space- saving plants Significant progress has already been made in recent years. An important contribution to the reduction of VOC emissions is the introduction of water-based paints, which has now reached a high level worldwide. Further advances are achieved by the increased use of primer-less and compact painting processes. Low-temperature painting processes and so-called low-bake painting processes could make an important contribution to further reducing emis- sions and energy consumption in the future. Improvement in Application Technology In addition, both the plant and application technology offer considerable potential for reducing the environ- mental impact and conserving resources. In the application technology, the high-speed rotary atomizers were specifi- cally tailored for the individual tasks. Their compact design made it possible to use atomizers with external charging in car interior painting, as well. Application efficiency was increased further and the associated reduction in overspray is clearly recognizable. The compact design results in lower atomizer contamination. This means not only less cleaning effort with the associated production interruptions, but also less cleaning agent consumption and thus lower VOC emissions. It is, of course, impossible to completely avoid contamination of the atomizers, especially when it comes to interior painting. The housing and the shaping air ring must be cleaned from time to time. Fully automatic cleaning devices are available for this purpose. The latest generations of atomizer cleaners consume only 50 mL of cleaning agent per cycle, compared to 550 mL for previous devices. The extraordinary feature is that cleaning can be carried out in the available cycle time. Dry Separation of Overspray One example on the plant side is the dry separation of paint overspray. The overspray is thereby bound with powdered limestone. The advantage is that there is no paint sludge as in conventional wet scrubbing. The powdered limestone is replaced automatically at a certain degree of saturation and can be recycled, for example, in cement plants. With a special fluidized bed furnace, the powdered limestone can be reutilized directly in the paint shop. The organic paint components of the saturated binding agent are burned and thus energetically recycled. The recycled powdered limestone regains its paint-binding properties. This process can be repeated several times without degrading the quality of the binding agent. In other words, the repeated use of the powdered limestone reduces consumption and thus also the cost. Through the use of this technology, which allows for recirculated air in the paint spray booth, the annual energy consumption of a fully automated paint shop is reduced by up to 16 million kWh. At the same time, energy reduction is also associated with up to 5,200 metric tons less CO 2 emissions. Improved Control Technology Intelligent process air conditioning, i.e. optimum control for air supply and air recirculation units, can also help to ensure stable and energy-efficient operation of the paint shop. Special software thereby controls the temperature and humidity level in the paint spray booth. The set point Q. Our paint shop is the place of highest energy consumption and highest VOC and CO 2 emissions in the car manufac- turing process. What measures can be taken to reduce them? LIQUID COATINGS C L I N I C

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