Q: What are the trends you see affecting the industry?
A: We are at an interesting juncture in industrial microbial control for paints and coatings. On one side, progress in microbial control, or in preservation technologies as we often refer to them, is becoming more challenging due to fast-changing and more stringent global directives, ecolabels, and other 3rd party certifications regulating the use of substances presenting health hazard risks. At the same time, we are driving our sustainability mission and focusing on higher performance biodegradable solutions that are easier and safer-to-use, while reducing our environmental footprint, energy consumption, and waste.In this context, we are working closely with customers, regulators, academia, and the broader marketplace to develop products and solutions to achieve the sustainability goals we all aspire to, while delivering the quality, reliability, protection, and service life extension that paints and coatings end-users expect.
We are leveraging our decades of experience in paints and coatings formulation and application, vast knowledge resources in microbiology, and expertise in regulatory affairs to deliver unique offerings to the market. We have an exciting innovation pipeline, so watch this space!
Q: How does the use of preservatives vary around the world?
A: Historically, the answer to this would be that there has been a significant amount of regional variation, all driven by different regional performance needs, regulations, and standards. Exterior coatings applied in the tropical environments of South East Asia, for example, require more robust protection against algal growth compared with those applied in the US, Europe, or Japan. Suppliers have traditionally responded to these different market needs by formulating tailored, fit-for-purpose solutions with specific active ingredient combinations in various forms and concentrations.However, we are now seeing more and more paints & coatings manufacturers formulating for global use, a dynamic that forces them to center their formulations on the most stringent regulations, which typically are found in the EU today.
The mainstream microbial control solutions providers, such as Arxada, must adapt to this reality and, beyond maintaining efficient global manufacturing and supply networks, must also provide their knowledge and guidance. This means offering access to their formulation expertise and providing hands-on support to paints and coatings customers through field technical service and customer support operations around the world.
Q: How are regulations impacting innovation in preservation?
A: Regulations are accelerating the pace of innovation in our industry. To put it simply, in the past, the industry relied on a large number of biocidal substances, many of which with unknown toxicity profiles. As science progressed, the long-term effects of a number of these substances on humans, animals, and the environment were characterized and risk assessed. This led to the various regulatory agencies taking action, banning the use of some substances, and specifying precisely the scope of application and concentration limits for each substance remaining on the approved list. In this process and for the common good of all consumers, a number of biocidal substances had to be removed from the market, leaving formulators with the challenge of developing and screening new chemical routes to replace the functionalities of active substances no longer available. Such an undertaking is complex, slow, and expensive, but it is today stimulating innovation and collaboration at all levels of the value chain.Arxada’s latest encapsulation technology for the controlled release of active ingredients in the dry film is a great illustration of regulatory-induced innovation. With this technology, we are able to achieve high levels of efficacy over longer periods of time while improving the environmental, health, and safety profiles of the product, in line with the compliance requirements of the main regulatory agencies.
Q: Where is the paints & coatings industry headed?
A: It is important to recognize that industry is deeply engaged in driving the sustainable use of biocidal substances, be it to optimize their use, reduce risk to non-target organisms in the environment, or offer greener and safer substitution options. I am encouraged by the number of more open and inclusive innovation partnerships I see taking shape across key industry players, their suppliers, and their customers.In this context, the primary R&D efforts in the industrial preservation space focus on improving the performance and sustainability of active ingredients over their life cycle while ensuring global relevance and acceptance. More specifically, for wet-state preservation, R&D efforts are centered on higher efficacy, broader spectrum, and more stable active ingredients. For dry-film preservation, R&D is centered on the delivery efficiency of active ingredients.
Controlling harmful organisms around us is crucial to our daily lives. As the global leader in preservation, Arxada is playing a major role in this innovation chain, committing fully to advancing the sustainability agenda of our industry and providing the best preservation solutions serving society’s needs.
For more information on our initiatives and capabilities, please visit www.arxada.com.
