Working Report, 20/2006 – Substitution of cobalt driers in wood coatings

Substitution of cobalt driers in wood coatings

3 Contact to manufactures

Different suppliers have been contacted in order to get samples of alkyds and driers and to get technical input to the project. The scope of the contacts was partly to find candidates that will participate in the project contributing with technical openness and knowledge.

To ensure continuity and to get most benefit out of the project, representatives from the coating industry, binder and driers manufactures have been involved in the planning and evaluation phase from the very beginning.

3.1 Binders

To be able to examine the influence of different aspects of the alkyd it was essential to find a supplier that was willing to produce model alkyds especially for the project.

Cray Valley has a long experience in the manufacturing of alkyds and agreed to participate and no further contact to suppliers of binders has been taken.

3.2 Driers

Different drier manufacturers have been contacted. The scope of the contacts has been to

be updated technically in the drier area
choose alternatives to cobalt to be tested
find a supplier who would participate in the project

For the latter Sasol Servo now part of Elementis Specialties had some experience similar to the approach of this project and they agreed to participate. Sasol Servo contributed to the initial screening with technical input and assistance as well as samples of existing drier products.