Precision gear pumps
Published

Sherwin-Williams wins U.S. EPA award

Reduces 800,000 pounds of VOCs by using soybean oil and recycled plastic

Share

                  

 

The Sherwin-Williams Company (Cleveland, OH) has won a 2011 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for its development of water-based acrylic alkyd technology.

 
The award recognizes Sherwin-Williams innovative new paint formulation, utilizing soybean oil and recycled plastic bottles (PET) in the substantial reduction of volatile organic compounds. In 2010, Sherwin-Williams manufactured enough of these new paints to eliminate over 800,000 pounds of VOCs.
 
Chris Connor, Chairman and CEO of The Sherwin-Williams Company said, "We are pleased that the White House and EPA have recognized our very talented R&D team that's committed to innovation and sustainability. Incorporating simple ingredients like soybean oil and recycled plastic bottles into a first of its kind powerful paint formula, provides a winning transformational combination for our customers and the environment."
 
But ironically, the $7 billion company is not a member of the United Nations “Global Compact on Sustainability,” and is a part of the “Global Reporting Initiative,” the largest sustainability reporting system.
 
But the company has stated that it’s environmental goal is “zero waste” and a large reduction in energy use.
 
 
To listen to the EPA podcast of the award, hosted by Dr. Richard Engler of EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, please click below.
 
http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/greenchemistry/pubs/2011_podcasts/DesigningGreenerChemicals_2011.mp3
 
Here’s the info from the EPA:
 
For the 16th year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized pioneering chemical technologies developed by leading researchers and industrial innovators who are making significant contributions to pollution prevention in the United States. These prestigious awards recognize the design of safer and more sustainable chemicals, processes, and products that will protect Americans, particularly children, from exposure to harmful chemicals.
 
The awards will be made this evening, June 20, at the Green Chemistry Challenge Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. This year’s awards are significant because 2011 has been named the International Year of Chemistry and marks the 20th anniversary of EPA’s efforts in what would become the creation of green chemistry. 
 
“EPA congratulates this year’s winners for designing and developing innovative green chemistry technologies that will result in safer chemicals for use in products, homes, schools, and workplaces that also have significant environmental and economic benefits,” said Steve Owens, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
 
The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards are bestowed in five categories. The 2011 award winners are:
 
  • Academic: Bruce H. Lipshutz, PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Small business: BioAmber, Inc., Plymouth, Minn.
  • Greener synthetic pathways: Genomatica, San Diego, Calif.
  • Greener reaction conditions: Kraton Performance Polymers, LLC, Houston, Texas
  • Designing greener chemicals: The Sherwin-Williams Company, Cleveland, Ohio
 
By recognizing groundbreaking scientific solutions to real-world environmental problems, EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Program has significantly reduced the hazards associated with designing, manufacturing and using chemicals. The program promotes research and development of less-hazardous alternatives to existing technologies that reduce or eliminate waste, particularly hazardous waste, in industrial production.
 
An independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute selected the 2011 winners from among scores of nominated technologies. During the program’s life, EPA has received more than 1,400 nominations and presented awards to 82 winners. Winning technologies alone are responsible for reducing the use or generation of more than 199 million pounds of hazardous chemicals, saving 21 billion gallons of water, and eliminating 57 million pounds of carbon dioxide releases to the air. These benefits are in addition to significant energy and cost savings by the winners and their customers. 
 

 

ENGINEERED PAINT BOOTHS & FINISHING SOLUTIONS
Your Best Finish Starts With Us!
Precision gear pumps
Metal Pretreatment Technology
Heatmax Heaters ad with immersion heaters
find masking products online
Filtration Systems
OptiCenter All-in-One OC11

Related Content

Hubbard-Hall Acquires BioConversion Technology

The acquisition adds experience and biologics to the AquaPure product line.

Read More
nasf

NASF/AESF Foundation Research Project #122: Electrochemical Approaches to Treatment of PFAS in Plating Wastewater - 7th Quarterly Report

The NASF-AESF Foundation Research Board has selected a project on addressing the problem of PFAS and related chemicals in plating wastewater streams, studying PFAS destruction via electrooxidation and electrocoagulation.  Our last report described the results from experiments of EO with a Magnéli phase Ti4O7 anode on the degradation of eight perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs).  In this seven quarter report, we describe work to further explore how the degradation of different PFAAs are related to their molecular structures.

Read More

NASF/AESF Foundation Research Project #120: Electrochemical Destruction of Perfluorooctanesulfonate in Electroplating Wastewaters – January – December 2023

This NASF-AESF Foundation research project report covers quarterly reporting for the year 2023 at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  The objective of this work is to utilize a cost-effective reactive electrochemical membrane (REM) for the removal of PFAS from synthetic electroplating wastewater.  Discussed here are the oxidation of PFOA with three different catalysts, development of a method for detecting PFAS, as well as work on 6:2-fluorotelomersulfonic acid (6:2 FTS) and electrodeposited bismuth/tin oxide catalysts.

Read More
nasf

NASF/AESF Foundation Research Project #122: Electrochemical Approaches to Treatment of PFAS in Plating Wastewater - 9th Quarterly Report

The NASF-AESF Foundation Research Board selected a project addressing the problem of PFAS and related chemicals in plating wastewater streams.  This report covers the ninth quarter of work (January-March 2023).  In this report, we describe our work on evaluating the performance of PFAS degradation by electrooxidation using surface fluorinated Ti4O7 anodes in batch mode.

Read More

Read Next

Sponsored

Delivering Increased Benefits to Greenhouse Films

Baystar's Borstar technology is helping customers deliver better, more reliable production methods to greenhouse agriculture.

Read More
regulation

Episode 45: An Interview with Chandler Mancuso, MacDermid Envio Solutions

Chandler Mancuso, technical director with MacDermid Envio discusses updating your wastewater treatment system and implementing materials recycling solutions to increase efficiencies, control costs and reduce environmental impact.

Read More
Sponsored

Masking Solutions for Medical Applications

According to Custom Fabricating and Supplies, a cleanroom is ideal for converting, die cutting, laminating, slitting, packaging and assembly of medical-grade products.

Read More
Industrial Finishing Equipment