Zirconium Pretreatment Offers Simplicity and Performance

When you have a process that works, there’s often an opportunity that it might prove beneficial to others as well. That simple notion has guided an Indiana-based pretreatment supplier and finisher on its 50-year road to expansion and success. Circle-Prosco (Bloomington, Ind.), got its start in the automotive heat exchange industry during a time when the industry was shifting to use large quantities of aluminum — which prompted the company’s subsequent growth into stationary HVAC areas. In 2003 the company brought in specialized in-house coating and then became both a pretreatment supplier and a finisher.

“We rolled out some of our aluminum pre-treatments and developed them for steel applications and have been growing that pretty aggressively for the last few years,” explains Douglas Parker, owner and president.

Various iterations of Circle-Prosco’s Steelcote zirconium-based phosphate-free pretreatment have been around for more than 20 years. In fact, an early version of the product was one of the first forays nationwide into zirconium technology.

Steelcote is designed to provide paint adhesion and corrosion resistance without the sludge or hazardous waste of traditional phosphate systems. It comprises a simple 4-stage process that reduces water and energy consumption, as well as bath maintenance.

Looking to new markets

According to Parker, Steelcote is not typical of some of the zirconium products on the market. He says most still contain phosphates and don’t quite solve the environmental problems associated with phosphates in wastewater. Meanwhile, Steelcote reportedly offers zinc phosphate type performance with a process that has the simplicity of an iron phosphate pretreatment — but without the phosphates.

As Circle-Prosco continues to improve and expand its offerings, it recognized potential in other markets.

 “We had the ability to really run high-volume pretreatment processes, repeatedly, robustly at low cost with high performance,” Parker says.

The company turned its attention toward industrial, agricultural and construction markets, and has been working with a major coating manufacturer toward AAMA 2605 certification. “We have passed those specifications using our zirconium system, and we are capable of meeting those requirements,” says Erik Reinhart, senior sales representative, for Circle-Prosco

From a performance perspective, Reinhart says the company’s phosphate-free solution actually achieves better results than iron phosphate and similar results to zinc, yet more consistent, offering uniform results without peaks and valleys in coating weights.

“A lot of that has to do with the ease of use of our system,” he says. “It’s much easier to maintain.”

Steelcote is designed around simplicity. The zirconium bath is durable, meaning that whenever it starts to creep outside of specification, it’s easy to bring it back in range. Another advantage of the system is the reduction of sludge that often results from zinc and iron phosphate-based systems.

“That sludge makes for an operational nightmare,” Reinhart says. “Nozzles can get plugged and clogged with sludge and you have to have pieces of equipment specific to remove it in order to keep the tanks running and operating properly.”

On a gut-level, the company knew it had something that could help others. At the same time, Circle-Prosco was a modest company with a lot of people wearing a lot of hats. In order for the company to take the product into new markets, it just made sense to turn to experts already working in those sectors for additional guidance.

Construction and agriculture

Darren Howard isn’t boasting by billing himself as a finishing processes guru. He has the experience to back it up with lengthy stints managing paint operations for such companies as General Motors and John Deere. He took one look at Circle-Prosco’s Steelcote process and recognized the possibilities for the construction and agricultural markets.

Howard joined the Circle-Prosco team in June 2021 because he was thrilled with the simplicity and performance of Steelcote and was excited about using it for industrial and agricultural applications.

“From an end user point of view, the zirconium bath is really durable,” he explains. “In my experience running an iron, or zinc phosphate bath if it would creep outside of specification range, I would have to dump the bath and start over. Steelcote is much easier to bring back into range without having to lose the entire bath.”

According to Howard, it all comes down to performance and corrosion resistance. Of course, much of that need is driven by the sheer hard work that is demanded of agricultural equipment, but there’s more to it than just that.

“When people think about agriculture, they don’t realize that farmers really care about performance for a couple of reasons,” he says.

He goes on to explain that the equipment not only needs to get the job done, it also needs to retain its value. Larger agricultural corporations will buy farm equipment and use it for maybe a year and then sell it to a mid-size farmer who might use it for a few years before then selling to a smaller farmer (think 1,200 acres). And every one of those owners is using their equipment in a harsh environment for paint with so much chemical exposure to pesticides, anhydrous, and fertilizers. In a nutshell, resale value of farm equipment is part of what the industry operates on and there is no room for rust buckets.

In addition to performance, an important consideration for the agricultural sector is care for the environment. Phosphates are receiving an increasing amount of scrutiny when it comes to regulations and particularly in the agricultural market, limiting phosphates is a top concern. 

Simplicity is key

With numerous pretreatment chemistries on the market, many factors are required for a product to be successful: it needs to provide quality results, it needs to adhere to environmental, health and safety regulations, and it needs to be easy to use. According to Reinhart, the beauty of Circle-Prosco’s system is in its simplicity. He sums it up like this, “No phosphates from an environmental standpoint, reduction in sludge, and reduction in the number of stages required to process stuff.”

That ease-of-use approach seems analogous to Circle-Prosco’s simple strategy for growth.

“We have this technical focus and wanted to allow other people to benefit from it,” Parker says. “We’re just kind of rolling it out one customer at a time.”