The coatings industry is undergoing a transformative shift driven by global sustainability goals, tighter regulatory demands and increased consumer preferences for eco-friendly products. As regulations continue to phase out volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and reduce reliance on biocides and other hazardous substances, manufacturers are increasingly focused on finding alternative formulations that meet these environmental standards without sacrificing performance.
Traditional VOC-Free Colorant Setbacks
While VOC-free colorants present a more sustainable alternative to traditional paints, they come with their own set of challenges. The absence of VOCs and biocides—which help maintain stability in conventional colorants—makes VOC-free formulas more susceptible to microbial growth. Without these protective agents, VOC-free colorants often encounter issues like mold and bacterial formation, which can lead to contamination and require frequent maintenance, especially in humid or damp environments.
VOC-free formulations also tend to suffer from sedimentation problems, as they lack the additives traditionally used to prevent particles from settling. This sedimentation can lead to inconsistencies in color quality and force additional mixing processes, complicating usage and increasing costs for manufacturers. Extended drying times are another significant drawback. VOCs aid in faster drying, so their absence can delay production timelines, leading to slower turnaround in both manufacturing and retail environments.
The challenges of VOC-free colorants also extend to point-of-sale equipment. Traditional dosing systems, optimized for liquid VOC-based colorants, struggle to adapt to VOC-free alternatives, which are more prone to clogging, tip drying and syneresis—a phenomenon where liquid separates from the colorant mixture, causing uneven dosing. These issues often lead to increased colorant consumption, downtime due to equipment cleaning and higher costs associated with maintaining dosing machines.
Finally, storage stability is a major issue, as VOC-free products generally have a shorter shelf life and are more prone to spoilage, resulting in a higher percentage of wasted material. Industry data suggests that 5-10% of traditional paints and colorants can be wasted due to improper storage, especially without the stabilizers that extend the life of VOC-based products.
While VOC-free colorants offer clear environmental benefits, their current limitations—ranging from microbial growth and sedimentation to shorter shelf life and equipment challenges—can ultimately increase costs, complicate operations and increase the carbon footprint within the supply chain.
Sustainable Tinting Does Not Have to Compromise Paint Performance
As the industry moves away from traditional additives, it requires innovative approaches to ensure color efficacy and stability. A significant innovation includes the development of solid colorant technologies, which offer a unique solution to the limitations of traditional liquid tinting systems. Solid colorants are inherently more stable, sidestepping many of the preservation and sedimentation issues that plague liquid colorants. This stability leads to extended shelf life, improved color consistency and a reduced need for harsh chemical stabilizers. As a result, solid colorants support a longer lifecycle for both the colorant itself and the coatings equipment, allowing companies to reduce maintenance frequency and lower overall operational costs.
The sustainability benefits of solid colorants extend beyond just reducing VOCs. The industry is placing a premium on minimizing the carbon footprint of the entire supply chain, and solid colorants contribute by reducing waste, decreasing the frequency of equipment servicing, and improving packaging efficiency.
A Shift Toward a More Efficient, Environmentally Responsible Coatings Industry
Innovations like the Pearls™ tinting system by Vibrantz Technologies, which delivers volumetrically dosed solid colorants, demonstrate how solid colorant technologies can streamline the tinting process, minimize waste and lower overall carbon emissions in manufacturing and distribution. As the architectural waterborne coatings industry’s first and only volumetrically dosed tinting system of solid colorants designed for use in architectural and industrial waterborne paint applications, this technology offers several key sustainability benefits, various performance enhancements and an overall decrease of traditional liquid colorants’ carbon footprint.
This patented technology has an improved sustainability profile compared to standard tinting systems. The solid colorants are formulated without biocides, VOCs or extra additives, and will not dry out, thicken or cause sediment. Made with 100% recyclable packaging, this technology reduces overall waste and doubles the colorant shelf life from two to four years at a minimum.
As a solid, the product lessens the intricacy and wear associated with liquid tinting, reducing the complexity of machinery and minimizing the need for recurring maintenance. Additionally, it eliminates purging cycles and maximizes ease of use, lowering the need for spare parts, additional trips from technicians and overtime helping to decrease our carbon footprint.
The uniformed shape and narrow particle size of each solid colorant offers superior tinting accuracy and less mistints. The need for fewer additives minimizes the impact on important properties of the end-use paint. Lowering the active ingredients also decreases the impact on viscosity drop, increases blocking resistance and allows the waterborne coatings binder systems to maintain its film properties.
Sustainable Technology Enhances the Future of Colorant Tinting Systems
This innovation is poised to play an instrumental role in the future of sustainable coatings, offering a solution that aligns with regulatory requirements while addressing industry challenges like increasing maintenance and spare part replacement for machines and shelf-life limitations. As environmental regulations grow increasingly stringent and demand for sustainable products accelerates, the industry’s pivot toward alternative solutions like Vibrantz’s Pearls technology represents a forward-thinking response to an array of industry pressures. Pearls is uniquely positioned to provide sustainability, tinting efficiency and enhanced performance advantages. With the integration of cloud technology to drive dispensing, matching and analytics, this innovative technology revolutionizes the architectural waterborne coatings industry and offers precise control over the entire tinting process.
Join the movement toward a more efficient, environmentally responsible coatings industry, equipped to meet the needs of a new generation of eco-conscious consumers.
Learn more at www.vibrantzpearls.com
