Pasteurizing Architectural Paints to Eliminate Biological Contamination
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Solution Overview
Problem
The reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in paints has made them more susceptible to biological agents such as bacteria, fungi, and yeasts, leading to growth and contamination issues, which can affect their usability and pose health concerns, while the use of biocides is undesirable for environmentally conscious consumers.
Innovation Solution
Pasteurization of paints using energy sources like heat or radiation before storage to eliminate biological agents, combined with storage in controlled environments to prevent re-growth, ensuring a significant reduction in biological agent populations without the need for excessive biocides.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If VOCs are reduced in paints to make them environmentally friendly, then environmental safety is improved, but susceptibility to biological agents increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary pasteurization treatment to paints before they are packaged and distributed. This pre-treatment eliminates biological agents in advance, allowing the paint to remain environmentally friendly with reduced VOCs while preventing biological contamination during storage and use.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the temperature parameter by heating the paint to pasteurization temperatures (typically 50-70°C) for a specific duration. This thermal parameter change effectively kills biological agents without requiring biocides, thus maintaining the low-VOC environmentally friendly formulation while improving resistance to biological contamination.
2Reliability
If biocides are added to control biological agents, then protection against contamination is improved, but environmental friendliness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts or removes biocides from the paint formulation by replacing them with a physical pasteurization process. This extraction of harmful chemical biocides while maintaining protection against biological agents through thermal treatment resolves the contradiction between effectiveness and environmental safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes chemical biocides with a mechanical/physical pasteurization system that uses heat treatment. This replacement of chemical action with physical thermal processing eliminates the need for environmentally harmful biocides while maintaining effective protection against biological contamination.
3Reliability
If pasteurization is applied to eliminate biological agents, then biological safety is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial pasteurization by heating the paint to moderate temperatures (50-70°C) rather than sterilization temperatures, for a specific duration sufficient to reduce biological load. This partial action achieves adequate biological safety while minimizing energy consumption compared to more intensive thermal processing.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively reduces the population of bacteria, yeasts, and fungi in paints to prevent contamination and odor issues, maintaining paint quality and safety while minimizing biocide usage, and ensuring the paints remain usable and safe for consumers.
Implementation Method 1
Pasteurizing paints and method for pasteurizing paints... using an energy source, such as heat... to kill any biological agents
Implementation Method 2
Pasteurizing paints and method for pasteurizing paints... using an energy source, such as heat, gamma ray radiation, other irradiations
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are methods for pasteurizing architectural coating compositions using heat, radiation or other energy sources without additionally polymerizing the compositions and storing same.