Background

The forest cluster in Europe includes forest owners (more than 9 million private forest owners), woodworking industries (sawmills and panel industries), pulp, paper & board manufacturing industries, paper & board converting industries, printing industries and furniture industries, with an annual turnover of 400 billion EUR.
In order to compete with other materials such as plastics and to be attractive to customers, a durability of treated wood facades of at least 5-8 years renovation-free should be guaranteed.
However, tougher new European legislation (EC Directive 2004/42/EC) laying down minimum VOC content limits has seen the increasing replacement of solvent-borne coating systems by water-borne coatings for outdoor wood preservation purposes.

Solvents pose serious risks for the environment and for human health.
At normal temperatures and pressures they can volatilize producing Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
Exposure to these solvent vapours is highly dangerous.
Furthermore, solvent vapours also can pose fire and explosion hazards, necessitating careful storage and handling procedures.
Yet, despite their reduced environmental and health impacts, the performance limitations of water-borne coatings pose a real threat to the competitiveness of wood materials, as wooden facades that are treated with water-borne coatings are more susceptible to discolouring and damage by mould and blue stain fungi, leading to costly repair work after only a few years of service life.