Committed to Sustainability
Electro Painting and Refurbishing, Inc offers many environmentally friendly or “Green” products and services.
Since the company’s inception in 1999, EPR has helped keep over 100,000 semi trailers of office furniture from being land filled. This was achieved by refurbishing used office furniture for the new and used office furniture dealers nationally. There are many other industries that have received benefits from the services and materials EPR provides.
The Paint
Several of the 2 component paints used by EPR have solvents made from vegetable oil (sustainable resource) and nearly all of the paints are low VOC and all coatings meet all state and federal government requirements.
When any of the 2 component paints are used, the unused parts are left to finish curing (drying). Once the paint is completely cured and all solvents are released, the product is completely inert and non-hazardous for landfill disposal.
The Equipment
For most applications and paints, EPR uses Ransburg #2 spray equipment, which applies over 95 percent of the paint onto the item being painted. Other manufacturers electrostatic equipment is only 50 – 70 percent transfer efficient. Using any other equipment would mean more paint is needed to paint the same thing, and 30 – 50 percent of the paint is over spray fog.
For example, EPR only requires about 16 oz of paint to change the color of the entire exterior and drawer edges of a 5 drawer lateral file or a standard elevator door and frame.
Liquid Paint vs Powdercoating
There are several myths regarding the benefits of powder coating versus liquid coating materials. When the entire process is compared, liquid paint coatings fair well when compared to powder coating.
Powder coating is not any more durable than liquid coatings. Powder was designed to be a coating system that is easier to apply and to be equivalent to the liquid paints currently available for original equipment manufacturing.
powder
The process materials used in manufacturing powder are hazardous waste.
The surface preparation typically used and required before powder coating can be applied creates a hazardous waste.
A considerable amount of energy is required to heat and melt the powder, then dry the liquid at over 400 degrees for about 15 minutes per load in a batch oven. (Non-metal items can’t be powder coated for this reason) Even more heat and energy is required when using a continuous conveyor process. That’s a lot of energy.
Powder coated products can also be under or over cured. Under curing can lead to a soft, easily marrable and weak coating. Over curing can make the coating brittle.
Tolerances can be affected by building the powder coating material too heavy. Colors are generally limited with powder coaters, unless there are large quantities.
Because powder requires an oven, the coating can only be used in a shop environment and cannot be applied at the job site.
Liquid paints
As stated above, several of the 2 component coatings EPR applies, have solvents which are vegetable oil based, a sustainable resource which also helps our US farmers. Once the unused paint is completely cured, it is inert and can be sent to landfill with no hazardous waste being generated.
The typical preparation process used for liquid coatings over previously painted products are hand sanding the surface being painted and cleaning with a citrus-based cleaner made from peel oil, a byproduct of the concentrated citrus juice industry.
The 2 component paints used by EPR don’t require heat to “bake” or cure, so metal or non-metal items can be painted. The chemistry used when both components are mixed allow the paint to cure slightly faster with warmer temperatures (over 75 degrees F), or slightly slower with cooler temperatures (45 – 70 degrees F) and are available in nearly any color or finish. This chemistry makes for a versatile system. Most of these paints can be applied at the job site electrostatically or in an EPR paint shop.
Since the paints EPR typically uses are high solid, low VOC coatings, the amount of paint needed is minimal. Usually a minimum or 1.5 – 2 mils film thickness is required for optimal performance properties, and not affect any tolerances for openings, even with multiple coats.
There have been great strides in making liquid paints more environmentally friendly in recent years, and all of us at EPR hope we have helped clear up some misunderstandings regarding liquid paint versus powder paint coatings.