Press Releases

2015

June 29, 2015

Kurita Develops the New Kuristuck Series Water Treatment Chemicals to Help Reduce the Environmental Impact and Improve Productivity at Automobile Factories and Other Facilities:
- Expanding the Lineup of Chemicals for Automobile Painting Booths to Strengthen Business Expansion -

Kurita Water Industries (Head Office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo, President: Toshiyuki Nakai; hereinafter "Kurita") has developed the New Kuristuck Series water treatment chemicals. These chemicals are designed for use in the automobile painting booths of automobile factories and other facilities to help move ahead with solutions to issues customers face in the automotive industry. Kurita will be making them available to automobile and automotive component factories in Japan and overseas.

When automobiles are painted in a painting booth, paint is sprayed in a mist form onto the body. The residual paint mist is dropped by air suction, after which it comes in contact with a curtain-like water film that collects it to prevent the mist from being emitted to the atmosphere. A water treatment chemical is added to the water which catches the paint to separate the paint from the water. This water is then reused as circulating water.
However, if the water treatment chemical is not very effective, the paint caught by water can cause several problems. For example, oil-based paint is extremely viscous, causing it to stick to the sides of the piping, tank, pump, and other equipment that circulate water. If this equipment becomes clogged, the amount of water that circulates will decrease, and it will no longer be possible to stably remove the paint mist in the air. This leads to deficiencies in the painting process, the potential halt of the production line, or other serious problems. A mass of paint separated from water is highly viscous and raises the cost of cleaning and disposal. Water-based paint, on the other hand, is not sticky, but it is soluble in water and cannot be separated. As a result, the paint accumulates in the circulating water and takes in air, leading to heavy foaming in the tank or elsewhere. This foaming gives rise to the risk that the production line will be completely stopped or that the overall wastewater treatment burden of the factory will increase. A water treatment chemical highly capable of separating paint from water is therefore needed.

Kurita has offered Kuristuck Series chemicals to help customers solve problems related to automobile painting booths. In recent years, customers have been stepping up their environmental efforts and working to boost productivity. Water treatment technology must evolve to keep pace with the changes in the structure of painting booths and paint types. In addition, water treatment chemicals must now be capable of fulfilling many different functions to meet customers’ diversifying needs. Faced with these developments, Kurita worked to develop a new technology and succeeded in creating four new products for the New Kuristuck Series.
The new series is able to render oil-based paint tack-free and catch water-based paint better than Kurita’s current product line. These features help to reduce both the consumption and cost of chemicals, while achieving higher stability in treatment. Kurita’s lineup responds to the wide range of issues customers grapple with by offering products that work well on both oil-based paint and water-based paint, as well as product for small- and medium-sized painting booths. In addition, the combined use of products in the New Kuristuck Series will maintain the quality of the circulating water without needing to discharge it. This satisfies the customers’ demands for treatment in which water discharge is impossible or not desired.

The ever-growing automobile industry is expected to have mounting needs for lower environmental impacts and higher productivity. Kurita will make good use of the technologies and expertise it has developed over the years, along with its wide variety of products, to improve the performance of treating water containing paint generated from painting booths, and thereby contribute to the stable operation of customers’ production lines.
Kurita will aim to earn sales of 1,200 million yen from the New Kuristuck Series three years from now.

The New Kuristuck Series: Four Newly Developed Products

Product Name Features
Kuristuck B-200
  • -Makes oil-based paint tack-free to facilitate its recovery
  • -Ability to make paint tack-free is nearly twice as potent as that of Kurita’s conventional products
  • -Supports treatment compatible with both the distributed recovery method and the floating recovery method
Kuristuck B-210
  • -Condenses water-based paint to facilitate its recovery
  • -Ability to condense paint is nearly twice as potent as that of Kurita’s conventional products
  • -Accelerates the rising of condensed paint with the help of functional polymers
  • -Supports treatment compatible with both the distributed recovery method and the floating recovery method
Kuristuck B-800
  • -Works on both oil-based paint and water-based paint
  • -Fulfills many functions, such as making paint tack-free, condensing paint, and suppressing the formation of foam
  • -Superior ability to condense paint, paving the way for operating painting booths free of water discharge
Kuristuck W-307
  • -Makes oil-based paint tack-free to facilitate its recovery
  • -Prolonged effect facilitates management and is suited for small- and medium-sized painting booths
  • *Water treatment in a painting booth