GREEN CHEMISTRY: THE TUG-O'-WAR BETWEEN HEADWINDS AND TAILWINDS

Avast array of both consumer and industrial products, from plastics to fuels; from paints and coatings to lubricants; from personal care products to household, industrial and institutional cleaners ("Hl&l"), and many others, have historically been based on starting materials that are derived from fossil fuels such as petroleum, natural gas, shale oil, oil sands, bitumen, coal, etc. The drivers for this movement are varied, but some of the more important considerations include the sustainable nature of bio-sourced materials visa-vis finite fossil fuels; potentially lower carbon footprints of certain bio-sourced materials; and consumer "pull" for materials that are low-odor, with benign label warnings. The breakdown on all components (from any source, petrochemical or biomaterials) used in paint and coatings production in the global coatings market gives us a very high-level view of the types of raw materials that might be via-bly explored for "green" chemistry use (Figure 1). Green Solvents The largest category of paint and coatings raw materials is represented by solvents, which offers, at least at first blush, quite a few opportunities for bio-based ("green") products. Since the paint and coatings industry represents, on a global basis, the largest usage category for solvents, this is a natural area in which to concentrate research, both for raw material suppliers and paint and coatings formulators (Figure 2).