Development of a solvent sustainability guide for the paints and coatings industry

Abstract

A guide has been developed, highlighting various sustainability criteria of solvents used in the paints and coatings industry. The guide differs from previous, pharmaceutical-industry-focused guides both in the nature of the solvents included, and in the scoring of criteria, taking into account typical paints and coatings applications. The guide scores are, inevitably, subject to change, for example, if newer routes to biobased solvents become more widespread, or as further toxicology assessments are conducted, however it is intended as a tool to inform choices at R&D stages where full LCA may not be practical.