The melamine-formaldehyde detackifiers that
BC4200NP is replacing are derived from non-renewable natural gas supplies and
contain residual amounts of free formaldehyde as a necessary consequence of the
resin production operation. The acrylic acid-based detackifiers are derived
from non-renewable crude oil feed stocks and their price is therefore subject
to the global oil market. Further, since the chitosan-based product is less
acidic than the traditional products, less sodium hydroxide is necessary in an
operating system to control pH, resulting in less overall chemical usage.
Additional field studies have also indicated that less detackifier is necessary
to treat a given amount of paint, and this also makes the BC4200NP more
attractive from an application cost perspective.
Significant
milestones in regard to this technology are as follows: