Characterization of automotive paints: an environmental impact analysis

The environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of different automotive paint materials including solvent-based and powder primers, water-based basecoat, and solvent-based and powder clearcoats were investigated based on life cycle analysis (LCA). The LCA of each paint formulation included the environmental emissions associated with mining and production of the raw materials, production of energy required to mine and produce raw materials and final product, mining of fossil fuels required to produce energy to run the mining and manufacturing processes, and transportation of raw materials to manufacturing plant. We have studied the environmental performance of three different paint scenarios: (a) solventborne primer-waterborne basecoat-solventborne clearcoat; (b) powder primer-waterborne basecoat-solventborne clearcoat; (c) powder primer-waterborne basecoat-powder clearcoat. Results show that the LCA energy requirement to manufacture the polyester powder primer, in a quantity necessary to paint a sport utility vehicle, is lower by 67% compared to that found for the acrylic powder. For waterborne basecoat, the two colors white and pewter use about the same amount of energy. In manufacturing of the materials for the three painting scenarios considered, the powder primer-waterborne basecoat-powder clear is associated with the least energy, water consumption, solid waste, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, it exceeds other scenarios in particulate matter (PM), SOx, and CO2-equivalent emissions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.