Biocleanpaint -Biosolvents as cleaning liquids for paint application systems.

Purpose and goal:

In every paint shop there is significant use of cleaning liquids to clean equipment and paint distribution systems. Most cleaning liquids are VOC containing and fossil based substances such as butyl acetate, xylene, and ethylbenzene.

By switching to novel cleaning liquids produced from renewable resources, the aim of this project is to reduce the environmental burden, in particular the climate impact, and reduce the volumes of solvents being sent to waste from the painting lines. Expected results and effects:

With a successful project and the introduction of solvents from renewable resources for cleaning we expect significant spin-off effects and the introduction of these solvents to other areas. Not only high-volume production lines, but also smaller paint shops and refinishing paint shops will gain from this project. We also think that extended and developed recycling of the solvent waste not only will minimise the used volumes, but also may open for the separated solid paint waste to be used as a valuable resource and not be burnt as a fuel.

Approach and implementation:

A start-up meeting has been held at Teams where the project´s first activities in work package 1 were planned. Project meetings will be held once a month for a start.

There is a wish to visit one of the end users quite early in the project to create a shared picture of how the washing liquids and solvents are handled in production. Due to the corona situation, however, it was decided to wait with this until the pandemic situation allows travelling in a less controlled way.

A project agreement template has been chosen anda first draft will be sent out to the project group before 2022.