METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR TREATING PAINT SPRAY BOOTH WATER

Abstract: Methods and compositions for detackifying and dispersing, and coagulating/flocculating and dispersing solventborne and waterborne paints, respectively, in a paint spray booth are disclosed. An aqueous composition of water soluble cationic polymer, nonionic surfactant and amphoteric surfactant is used in conjunction with a silicate compound to treat the paint spray booth waters.

Description: METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR TREATING PAINT SPRAY BOOTH WATER FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention pertains to a paint spray booth water treatment program. The program comprises detackifying and dispersing solventbome paints and coagulating, flocculating and dispersing waterbome paints, and mixed waterbome/solventborne paints. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The spray painting of automobile bodies, truck parts, appliances and other industrial goods is typically carried out in enclosed areas called paint spray booths (PSBs). These booths act to contain solvent fumes and oversprayed paint and reduce the chances of dust contamination in order to protect the paint booth operators and the painted articles. These booths vary in size, but are somewhat basic in their design and operation. A typical booth would thus consist of a work area, back section with mist eliminators and a sump. The articles to be painted generally pass through the work area while an air flow makes overspray contact either with water in the sump or spray from a water curtain. The air is scrubbed with recirculated water at the water curtain, passes through mist eliminators and is removed by an exhaust fan. Even though paint transfer efficiencies have increased through improved application technologies, roughly one-half of all paint sprayed does not reach its intended article. As a result, significant concentrations of paint buildup in the system and agglomeration can occur. When solventbome paints are used, the resultant mass is a sticky, tacky material which can plug mist eliminators, shower heads, and even recirculating pumps. When waterbome paints are employed, they will remain dispersed in the spray booth water. When present, waterbome paints will not present the same problems as untreated solventbome paint (i.e., tackiness, clumps, etc.). However, failure to remove waterbome paints results in increasing COD (chemical oxygen demand) levels, increasing suspended solids, and increasing levels of foam. All of these conditions decrease water clarity. When water quality decreases, scrubbing efficiency decreases leading to potentially hazardous conditions of unchecked paint emissions being discharged into the atmosphere. Such conditions may also present severe safety hazards to paint spray booth operators. The paint solids that are collected in the water can form suspensions which remain tacky and create expensive separation and disposal problems. It is therefore desirable to treat paint spray booth water systems so as to reduce or prevent, as much as possible, the agglomeration and deposition of oversprayed paint on critical paint spray booth operating pads, to render the resultant sludge (in solventbome systems) non-tacky and easily removable, and to provide a water quality such that it can be recycled for use in the system The paint employed in typical paint spray booths fall into two generic classes, waterbome and solventbome Currently, solventbome paints are predominant However, increased restrictions upon the levels of volatile organic compound emissions are forcing industrial applications to switch to waterbome paints The differences in the two paint classification can be found in their formulations Solventbome paint typically consists of organic solvents (such as xylene), resin binders, pigments and additives In waterbome systems, water is substituted for the organic solvent Thus, the resin binders, pigments, and additives must all be rendered water soluble or dispersible Resins which are not water soluble can be stabilized with emulsifiers and cosolvents or be reformulated The behavior of a solventbome and a waterbome paint will differ when each becomes overspray in a wet paint spray booth Waterbome paints will disperse in the aqueous medium, while solventbome paints agglomerate into a tacky mass and adhere to paint spray booth operating pads Because of this behavior in water, in the past, the chemical process by which each paint type is treated differs In order to remove waterbome paint from an aqueous medium, they should be considered as hydrophi c colloids which must be rendered hydrophobic The stability of the compounds in water arises from the surface charge generated from carboxylic, aliphatic or aromatic hydroxyl groups on the polymer backbone. The process of destabilizing such solutions is termed coagulation. Flocculation follows in this treatment process whereby the destabilized particles are induced to come together, make contact and form large agglomerants. Solventbome paints are hydrophobic and their treatment involves partially dispersing the paint particles in the aqueous medium via an anionic dispersant. The partially hydrophilic particles can then be treated to render them non-tacky. This process is referred to as detackification. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides for methods and compositions for detackifying and dispersing solventbome paints and for coagulating, flocculating and dispersing waterbome paints in a paint spray booth. The methods comprising the addition of an effective amount of a composition comprising a water soluble cationic polymer, a nonionic surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant, in conjunction with a silicate. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,147,557 and 5,147,558, Purnell, teach processes for detackifying and coagulating oversprayed waterbome and mixed waterbome and oil based paint particles in the water collection system of a paint spray booth. The processes comprise adding a blend of an inorganic anion and a cationic polymer selected from the group consisting of polydiallyldimethyl ammonium chloride, a condensation product of dimethylamine plus epichlorohydrin and a condensation product of dimethylamine plus ethylenediamine and epichlorohydrin. U.S. Pat. No 4,440,647, Puchalski, discloses a paint spray booth composition consisting of a polyamide-epichlorohydπn resin, a polymer formed from reacting hexamethylene diamine and ethylene chloride An amphoteric metal salt is also added U.S. Pat No. 5,060,682, Merrell, teaches methods for detackifying paint in a wet paint spray booth where water is employed to wash the air containing the oversprayed paint This activator catalyzed detackification program (ACDP) utilized a solid phase, lyophobic sol, that is well dispersed in the water The lyophobic sols are formed from soluble metal salts such as Sr +2 and Ba +2 , or in combination with cationic or anionic polymers U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,513, Mitchell, teaches methods for detackifying spray booth water containing paint particles by adding a combination of hydrophilic/lipophilic quaternary ammonium repeat unit polymers or diallyldialkyl quaternary ammonium compounds and the reaction product of tannin, an ammo compound and an aldehyde U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,205, Morse, teaches the use of copolymers of N-methylolacrylamide and methyldiallylamine as detackifiers of solventbome paints in the circulating water of water wash paint spray booths U.S. Pat. No 5,250,189, Rey, teaches methods of treating paint spray booth water by maintaining the pH and alkalinity of the PSB water and adding an aluminum salt and a flocculant to the water before contacting the oversprayed, waterbome paint The aluminum salt can be aluminum chlorohydrate and the flocculant can be a cationic polyelectrolyte or quaternary ammonium polymer Hunter et al., U.S. Pat. No 5,076,939, teaches a method similar to Rey but substitutes an alumina coated silica sol for the aluminum salt in the process U S Pat No 4,637,824, Pominville, teaches a method for detackifying airborne paint particles captured in an aqueous wash stream by adjusting the pH to 7 to 12 with an alkali metal silicate and then contacting the paint wastes in the wash water with an amphoteric metal salt such as aluminum chloride and a poly(dιallyldιmethyl ammonium halide) polymer EP 0 525 989A2, Huang et al , teaches a method for detackification of oversprayed paint in wastewater by adding an amphoteric polymer and an aluminum salt The amphoteric polymer contains both anionic and cationic mer units and preferably in the presence of (meth)acrylamιde mer units DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides for methods and compositions for detackifying and dispersing solventbome paints and for coagulating, flocculating and dispersing waterbome paints in paint spray booth waters comprising adding to the paint spray booth water either step-wise or together an aqueous composition comprising a water soluble cationic polymer, a nonionic surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant, with a silicate compound It has been discovered that both detackification of solventbome paints and coagulation and flocculation of waterbome paints can be achieved by the simultaneous or step-wise use of the cationic polymer and the silicate together. The silicate acts in a manner to "catalyze" the polymer and to accomplish the detackification and the coagulation and flocculation. The addition of the combination of surfactants to the paint spray booth water will alleviate the problem of floating of the detackified paints and the subsequent need for removal by mechanical devices. The nonionic surfactant and anionic surfactant will disperse the detackified paints which are subsequently removed with the paint spray booth water. This represents an improvement over those detackification technologies which rely on flotation and subsequent mechanical removal. The water soluble cationic polymers that are useful in the present invention are of low to medium molecular weights, i.e. between about 1 ,000 to 600,000 average molecular weight. Typically these polymers are water soluble or dispersible polyquatemary ammonium polymers such as the condensation product of dimethylamine and epichlorohydrin, as described in U.S. Reissue No. 28,807 to Panzer et al., the contents of which are wholly incorporated by reference to herein. These polymers may also be the condensation product of dimethylamine, epichlorohydrin and ethylenediamine as described in U.S. Reissue No. 28,808, the contents of which are wholly incorporated by reference to herein. The water soluble cationic polymer may aiso be a polydiallyldimethyl ammonium chloride as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,288,770, the contents of which are wholly incorporated by reference to herein. The key criteria between these types of polymers for purposes of the present invention is that they be water soluble Preferably the water soluble cationic polymer is the condensation product of dimethylamine and epichlorohydrin The nonionic surfactants useful in the present invention generally have an HLB of about 9 to 15 Inclusive in this description are those surfactants such as ethoxylated primary alcohols, ethoxylated fatty alcohols, ethoxylated alkyipheπols and alkanolamines of fatty acids Examples of these surfactants include but are not limited to an ethoxylated nonyl phenol having an HLB of 12 9, available as Surfonic® N-95 from Texaco Chemicals, an aliphatic polyether, available as Antarox® LF-330 from Rhone-Poulenc, an octylphenoxy polyethoxy ethanol having 12 to 13 moles ethylene oxide, available from Union Carbide as Triton® X102, and an ethoxylated linear alcohol available from Union Carbide as Triton® DF16 The amphoteric surfactants that are useful in the present invention include but are not limited to an alkyl imino acid, monosodium salt available from Exxon Chemical Corp as Amphoteric TC, iminodipro- pionate amphoteric, available as Amphoteric 400 from Exxon sodium salt of a capryl imidazoline derivative, available from Mona Industries as Monateπc Cy-No 50%, and, 2-alkyl imidazoline amphoteric available as Monateric LF Na-50% from Mona Industries Generally, the silicate compounds that are useful in the present invention are water soluble sodium, potassium and ammonium salts of metasilicate (SιO 3 "2 ), orthosilicate (SιO 4 "4 ) disilicate (Sι 2 0 5 2 ) and mixed silicates (Na 2 O x SiO 2 ) where x=2 to 5) Preferably, the silicate compound is silicate D which is available from BetzDearborn Inc. as Detac® 1444 The composition in general comprises about 30 to 60 percent by weight of the water soluble cationic polymer and from 0J to 5.0 percent each by weight of the nonionic and amphoteric surfactant. The remainder of the composition being water, with tap water being preferable The inventive composition may be fed to the paint spray booth by conventional means and either separately or simultaneously with the separate feed of silicate compound. For purposes of the present invention, the inventive composition may be added at a rate of about 300 parts to about 5000 parts per million parts of paint spray booth water Preferably this amount ranges from about 300 parts to about 1500 parts per million parts paint spray booth water. Likewise, the either separately or simultaneously fed silicate compound may be fed in a range of about 250 parts to about 2500 parts per million parts of paint spray booth water. The composition of the present invention provides good coagulation and flocculation of waterbome paints and detackification of solvent-borne paints, while dispersing both types of paints when the pH of this spray booth water is about 6 to about 10 This is typical of paint spray booths and the pH can be adjusted, if necessary, with an appropriate caustic or acid. 10 The compositions of the present invention can be employed in those paint spray booths where polyacrylic, polyester resin and epoxy based paints are used These paints and resins can be further classified to include latexes, lacquers, enamels, and acrylics A preferred composition which is designated as Treatment A comprises 48 4 percent by weight of water soluble cationic polymer (methanamine, N-methyl-polymer with (chloromethyl) oxirane), 44 6 percent tap water, 3 9 percent of Surfonic® N-95 and 3 1 percent of Amphoteric TC In order to more clearly illustrate this invention, the data set forth below were developed The following examples are included as being illustrations of the invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope thereof JAR TESTING PROCEDURE A standard jar test procedure is used to determine the functional dosage levels and proper combination of cationic polymer and inorganic materials The general procedure is to add 100 mL of tap water to a 120 mL jar The treatment program is then added, and the bottle is capped and shaken to mix the contents One mL of an automotive paint (waterbome or solventbome) is then added to the jar After vigorous shaking for 30 seconds, a wooden tongue depressor is immersed in the solution and then removed for examination 11 The following guidelines are used for examining the detackification performance of the treatment Rating Definition 1 Paint forms large tacky globules and/or coating which adheres to the exposed surfaces of the jar and tongue depressor 2 Paint forms agglomerates which are slightly tacky to touch, or upon crushing Paint sludge coats the tongue depressor 3 Paint forms granular floes which adhere to less than 10% of the exposed surface area of the jar or depressor 4 Paint forms particles, some of which appear as specks on less than 1 % of the exposed surface area of the jar or depressor Sludge is neither smeary or tacky 5 Paint forms particles which do not adhere to the exposed surfaces of the jar or depressor The paint may float, sink, or be dispersed in the water 12 TABLE Comparison of Inventive Treatment A with Silicate D Versus DETAC® 504X on Waterbome Paints Treatment Activator Sample Paint Dosaqe (Dosaqe) Floe Dispersion 1 LD 1 A (300) 500 Large 90% Float 2 LD A (600) 500 Large 65% Float 3 LD A (800) 500 Large 65% Float 4 LD A (800) 1000 Large 100% Dispersed 5 LD B (300) 500 Large 90% Float 6 LD B (500) 500 None None 7 LD B (200) 1000 Large 100% Float 8 LD B (400) 1000 Large 90% Float 9 sw 2 A (600) 500 Large 75% Float 10 sw A (800) 500 Large 70% Float 11 sw A (800) 1000 Large 60% Float 12 sw A (1200) 1000 Large 100% Dispersed 13 sw A (600) 500 None None 14 sw A (800) 500 None None 15 sw A (600) 1000 Large 60% Float 1 Laurence-David Acrylic 2 Sherwin-Williams Acrylic A is Inventive Treatment B is DETAC® 504X as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,768, Merrell, the contents of which are wholly incorporated by reference to herein. 13 The results provided for in Table I indicate that the inventive composition when utilized with Silicate D proved more effective than a traditional paint spray booth water treatment. TABLE II Comparison of Inventive Treatment A with Silicate D Versus DETAC® on solventbome Paints Treatment Activated Sample Paint (Dosaqe) (Dosaαe) Kill Dispersion 1 PPG 3 A (400) 1000 4- 80% Floats 2 PPG A (600) 1600 3- 60% Floats 3 PPG A (600) 2000 4- 60% Dispersed 4 PPG A (800) 2000 4 80% Dispersed 5 PPG C (400) 1600 3+ 100% Floats " 6 PPG C (600) 1600 3+ 100% Floats 7 PPG C (400) 2000 3- 100% Floats 8 PPG C (600) 2000 2+ 100% Floats 9 DuPont 4 A (400) 1600 2 80% Floats 10 DuPont A (800) 1600 3+ 50% Dispersed 11 DuPont A (400) 2000 4/4+ 70% Dispersed 12 DuPont A (600) 2000 4+ 90% Dispersed 13 DuPont C (400) 1000 1 100% Floats 14 DuPont C (800) 1000 1 100% Floats 15 DuPont C (400) 1600 1 100% Floats 16 DuPont C (800) 1600 1 100% Floats 3 PPG Melamine Formaldehyde 4 DuPont Polyester Melamine A is inventive Treatment C is DETAC® 941 as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,667, the contents of which are wholly incorporated by reference to herein. 14 As demonstrated in Table II, the use of the inventive treatment and the silicate compound provided excellent results at detackifying and dispersing solventbome paints While this invention has been described with respect to particular embodiments thereof, it is apparent that numerous other forms and modifications of this invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art The appended claims and this invention generally should be construed to cover all such obvious forms and modifications which are within the true spirit and scope of the present invention

Claims: 15 Having thus described the invention, what we claim is 1 A method for detackifying and dispersing solventbome paints in paint spray booth water comprising adding to said paint spray booth water an effective amount of an aqueous composition comprising a water soluble cationic polymer having a molecular weight of about 1000 to about 600,000, a nonionic surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant, in combination with an effective amount of a silicate compound 2 The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said water soluble cationic polymer is selected from the group consisting of the condensation product of dimethylamine and epichlorohydrin, the condensation product of dimethylamine, epichlorohydrin and ethylenediamine, and polydiallyldimethyl ammonium chloride 3 The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said nonionic surfactant has an HLB of about 9 to 15 4 The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein said nonionic surfactant is selected from the group consisting of an ethoxylated nonyl phenol having an HLB of 12.9, an aliphatic polyether, an octylphenoxy polyethoxy ethanol having 12 to 13 moles ethylene oxide, and an ethoxylated linear alcohol 5 The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said amphoteric surfactant is selected from the group consisting of an alkyl imino acid, monosodium salt, an iminodipropionate amphoteric, a sodium salt of a capryl imidazoline derivative, and 2-alkyl imidazoline amphoteric 16 6 The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said silicate compound is selected from the group consisting of the sodium, potassium and ammonium salts of metasiiicate, orthosilicate, disilicates and mixed silicates having the formula, Na 2 O x SιO 2 where x is 2 to 5. 7. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said aqueous composition comprises from about 30 to 60 percent by weight of water soluble cationic polymer, and from about 0 1 to about 5 percent each of said nonionic and amphoteric surfactants. 8 The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said aqueous composition and said silicate compound are added to said paint spray booth water simultaneously. 9. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said aqueous composition and said silicate compound are added to said paint spray booth water separately. 10. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said aqueous composition is added to said paint spray booth water in an amount ranging from about 300 parts to about 5000 parts per million parts of paint spray booth water. 11. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said silicate compound is added to said paint spray booth water in an amount ranging from about 250 parts to about 2500 parts per million parts paint spray booth water 17 12 The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising waterbome paints 13 The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said solventbome paint is selected from the group consisting of polyacry c, epoxy and polyester resin-based paints 14 A method for coagulating, flocculating and dispersing waterbome paints in paint spray booth water comprising adding to said paint spray booth water an effective amount of an aqueous composition comprising a water soluble cationic polymer having a molecular weight of about 1000 to about 600,000, a nonionic surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant, in combination with an effective amount of a silicate compound 15 The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said water soluble cationic polymer is selected from the group consisting of the condensation product of dimethylamine and epichlorohydrin, the condensation product of dimethylamine, epichlorohydrin and ethylenediamine, and polydiallyldimethyl ammonium chloride 16 The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said nonionic surfactant has an HLB of about 9 to 15 17 The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein said nonionic surfactant is selected from the group consisting of an ethoxylated nonylphenol having an HLB of 12 9, an aliphatic polyether, an octylphenoxy polyethoxy ethanol having 12 to 13 moles ethylene oxide, and an ethoxylated linear alcohol 18 18. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said amphoteric surfactant is selected from the group consisting of an alkyl imino acid, monosodium salt, an iminodipropionate amphoteric, a sodium salt of a capryl imidazoline derivative, and 2-alkyl imidazoline amphoteric. 19. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said silicate compound is selected from the group consisting of the sodium, potassium and ammonium salts of metasilicate, orthosilicate, disilicates and mixed silicates having the formula, Na 2 O x SiO 2 where x is 2 to 5. 20. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said aqueous composition comprises from about 30 to 60 percent by weight of water soluble cationic polymer, and from about 0.1 to about 5 percent each of said nonionic and amphoteric surfactants. 21. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said aqueous composition and said silicate compound are added to said paint spray booth water simultaneously. 22. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said aqueous composition and said silicate compound are added to said paint spray booth water separately. 23. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said aqueous composition is added to said paint spray booth water in an amount ranging from about 300 parts to about 5000 parts per million parts of paint spray booth water. 19 24. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said silicate compound is added to said paint spray booth water in an amount ranging from about 250 parts to about 2500 parts per million parts paint spray booth water. 25. The method as claimed in claim 14 further comprising solventbome paints. 26. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein said waterbome paint is selected from the group consisting of polyacrylic, epoxy and polyester resin based paints. 27. An aqueous composition comprising a water soluble cationic polymer having a molecular weight of about 1000 to about 600,000, a nonionic surfactant and an amphoteric surfactant. 28. The composition as claimed in claim 27 wherein said water soluble cationic polymer is selected from the group consisting of the condensation product of dimethylamine and epichlorohydrin, the condensation product of dimethylamine, epichlorohydrin and ethylenediamine, and polydiallyldimethyl ammonium chloride. 29. The composition as claimed in claim 27 wherein said nonionic surfactant has an HLB of about 9 to 15. 20 30. The composition as claimed in claim 29 wherein said nonionic surfactant is selected from the group consisting of an ethoxylated nonyl phenol having an HLB of 12.9, an aliphatic polyether, an octylphenoxy polyethoxy ethanol having 12 to 13 moles ethylene oxide, and an ethoxylated linear alcohol. 31. The composition as claimed in claim 27 wherein said amphoteric surfactant is selected from the group consisting of an alkyl imino acid, monosodium salt, an iminodipropionate amphoteric, a sodium salt of a capryl imidazoline derivative, and 2-alkyl imidazoline amphoteric. 32. The composition as claimed in claim 27 wherein said aqueous composition comprises from about 30 to 60 percent by weight of water soluble cationic polymer, and from about 0.1 to about 5 percent each of said nonionic and amphoteric surfactants. 33. The composition as claimed in claim 27 further comprising waterbome or solventbome paints. 34. The composition as claimed in claim 33 wherein said waterbome or solventbome paint is selected from the group consisting of polyacrylic, epoxy and polyester resin based paints.

Inventors: AGREE HOWARD B, GUNAGAN BARRY P, RODZEWICH EDWARD A, AGREE, HOWARD, B., GUNAGAN, BARRY, P., RODZEWICH, EDWARD, A.
Applicants: BETZDEARBORN INC, BETZDEARBORN INC.
Application year: 1999
Main classification: C02F1
IPC codes: B01D21, B01F17, C02F1, C09D7