EPA/600/A-96/050 PB96-184338 DEVELOPMENT OF A COATING ALTERNATIVES GUIDE FOR AIDING THE SELECTION OF LOWER-EMITTING COATINGS Jesse N. Baskir1 Research Triangle Institute Pollution Prevention Program Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194 Dean R. Cornstubble Research Triangle Institute Pollution Prevention Program Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194 Michael Kosusko U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 1.0 INTRODUCTION Many manufactured items are painted or coated in order to protect the substrate, enhance the appearance of the product, or both. Conventional liquid paints and coatings contain a substantial quantity of organic solvent that evaporates during the curing or drying of the coating. Consequently, surface coating operations are a major source of Hazardous Air Pollutant (HAP) and Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions. According to recent estimates, air emissions from industrial surface coating operations in 1992 accounted for nearly 24 percent of all VOC emissions to air from industrial processes (U.S. EPA 1993). This equaled more than 2.6 million tons (2.4 million metric tons) of VOCs. As coatings users come under increasing pressure from environmental regulatory agencies to reduce their emissions of HAPs and VOCs, coatings suppliers are rapidly developing new lines of low- and no-VOC/HAP coatings. Due to the pace of new product development, coatings users, particularly small businesses, frequently are not aware of new products and of the degree to which these products can reduce their process emissions. Even when businesses are aware of new coatings, they may question whether these products can 1 RTI would like to acknowledge the contributions of David Williams of the North Carolina Office of Waste Reduction, Vic Young of the U.S. EPA's Waste Reduction Resource Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, Jeffrey Danneman of Reichhold Chemicals, Inc., and Ken Monroe of Research Triangle Institute, all of whom provided technical review and suggestions for the development of CAGE. REPRODUCED BY: NTS U.S. Department of Commerce PROTECTED UNDER INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT National Technical Information Service Springfield, Virginia 22161 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE ------- ------- AEERL-P-1281 TECHNICAL REPORT DATA (Please read Instructions on the reverse before comi 1. REPORT NO. EPA/600/A-96/050 2. PB9G-184338 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Development of a Coating Alternatives Guide for Aiding the Selection of Lower-emitting Coatings 5". REPORT DATE 6. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION CODE 7. AUTHOR(S) J. Baskir and D. Cornstubble (RTI), and M.Kosusko (EPA) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NO. 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS Research Triangle Institute P. O. Box 12194 Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT NO. 11. CONTRACT/GRANT NO. CR818419 12. SPONSORING AGENCY NAME AND ADDRESS EPA, Office of Research and Development Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 13. TYPE OF REPORT AND PERIOD COVERED Published paper; 1/94-3/95 14. SPONSORING AGENCY CODE EPA/600/13 15.supplementary notes^EERL project officer is Michael Kosusko, Mail Drop 61, 919/541- 2734. Presented at National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, Spring Meeting, 4/2- 5/95, Austin, TX. 16. ABSTRACT The paper summarizes progress in development of the logic framework for a proto- type Coating Alternatives GuidE (CAGE) system to assist the end user with sorting through information about lower-emitting coatings. The goal of this work is to devel- op a computer-based tool that coating users, and those providing technical assis- tance to them, will be able to use to select technically appropriate, cost-effective, and low-emitting coatings. CAGE is designed to provide information on coating equip- ment and chemistries in a user-friendly decision-tree format. The initial focus is on developing CAGE to provide information about alternative coatings for metal parts and products painting. CAGE is being developed in three phases: (l) develop- ment of a prototype system using a limited set of coating options, (2) testing the pro- totype logic system with the help of coating users and state and local pollution pre- vention assistance offices, and (3) expansion of CAGE to include additional coatings and detailed information about coating options. REPRODUCED BY U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE SPRINGFIELD, VA 22161 17. KEY WORDS AND DOCUMENT ANALYSIS DESCRIPTORS b.IDENTIFIERS/OPEN ENDED TERMS c. COSATI Field/Group Pollution Coatings Emission Painting Organic Compounds Volatility Pollution Prevention Stationary Sources Volatile Organic Com- pounds (VOCs) 13 B 11C 14G 1311 07C 20 M 8. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT Release to Public 19. SECURITY CLASS (This Report) Unclassified 21. NO. OF PAGES 20. SECURITY CLASS (This page) Unclassified 22. PRICE EPA Form 2220-1 (9-73) ------- ------- meet their operational, aesthetic, and performance requirements. To assist the end user with sorting through information about lower-emitting coatings, Research Triangle Institute (RTI) is working in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory (AEERL) to develop the Coating Alternatives Guide (CAGE). The goal of this work is to develop a computer-based tool that coating users, and those providing technical assistance to them, will be able to use to select technically appropriate, cost-effective, and low-emitting coatings. CAGE is designed to provide information on coating equipment and chemistries in a user-friendly decision-tree format. The technical effort is focused initially on developing CAGE to provide information about alternative coatings for metal parts and products painting. CAGE is being developed in three phases: 1) development of a prototype system using a limited set of coating options, 2) testing the prototype logic system with the help of coating users and state and local pollution prevention assistance offices, and 3) expansion of CAGE to include additional coatings and detailed information about coating options. This paper summarizes progress in development of the logic framework for the prototype CAGE system. 2.0 THE CAGE CONCEPT The traditional approach to providing information to smaller businesses generally focuses on gathering information on a topic and creating a written document which is then made available through business assistance hotlines, resource centers, and other distribution systems. Unfortunately, written documents generally have limited utility for meeting the information needs of a small business. Reasons for this include the difficulty of getting the information to the intended audience, incomplete information, information in excess of that needed by the user, and difficulty in keeping the information current. The difficulties in gathering and distributing coatings information suggest an information diffusion approach based on electronic information media. The development of CAGE is based on the premise that an electronic information base available for personal computers can serve as an effective tool to assist coatings users (and the organizations that provide technical assistance to them). These users need not only information about the coating chemistries that can reduce emissions from coating operations, but also expertise to help focus their search on those coating chemistries that can best meet their specific performance and other requirements. Consequently, CAGE is being developed to meet both needs (i.e., to provide information about a variety of low- emitting coatings and to provide relative rankings, based on user input, of coatings that are most likely to meet the user's performance requirements). This allows the user to narrow the search for coatings and focus on those coating types most likely to apply to that business's manufacturing operations. 2 ------- |