PPG, Stellantis Highlight Energy Savings from New Sealer Technology

PPG announced energy savings and emission reduction resulting from the use of PPG CORASEAL 4-Wet Sealer in Stellantis’ light commercial vehicles (LCV) production. PPG Coraseal 4-Wet Sealer cures in just one step, versus up to three steps required for traditional technologies, providing sustainability benefits for automotive OEM paint shops by reducing energy usage and CO₂ emissions.

The results of the implementation at Stellantis’ LCV plants were presented jointly by Franck Lepetit, PPG product engineer, Automotive OEM Coatings, and Sophie Carpentier, Stellantis sealants technical leader at the Strategies in Car Body Painting conference, hosted by the Automotive Circle in Berlin last month. The speakers said the process is an important contributor to meeting their respective companies’ sustainability targets.

Automotive OEM paint shops have traditionally used a curing process comprising a sealer oven, primer oven, and topcoat oven. The PPG B1:B2™ process, also known as the 3-Wet system, reduced that to just the sealer oven and topcoat oven. With the latest PPG Coraseal 4-Wet Sealer, only the topcoat oven is required. The system is compatible with most waterborne and solventborne systems.

“Transitioning to the PPG Coraseal 4-Wet Sealer offers several sustainability and performance benefits to OEMs,” said Thierry Destruhaut, PPG sustainability business partner, Automotive OEM Coatings. “When compared to the 3-Wet system, it can lead to a reduced environmental impact, reducing energy consumption by nearly 8%, cutting CO₂ emissions by nearly 5%* and enhancing productivity. Additionally, the need for fewer curing steps also simplifies maintenance processes and reduces costs.”

* Based on EU average conversion factors.