Mazda Motor Corporation announced the successful launch of the newly developed Aqua-tech Paint System for vehicle body painting at its Ujina Plant No.1 in Japan. The innovative new technology achieves the world’s highest standards for limiting emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) contained in paint as well as carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas generated from the energy consumed during the vehicle painting process.

The Aqua-tech Paint System maintains the same world-class low CO₂ emissions volume as the Three Layer Wet Paint System — Mazda’s paint system currently installed at all of its production facilities in Japan — and reduces VOC emissions by a further 57 percent. At only 15 grams per square meter of vehicle body surface, the extremely low VOC emissions volume makes Aqua-tech the least polluting water-based paint system in the world. The new system also delivers improved paint quality.

Water-based paints tend to produce far lower VOC emissions than solvent-based paints due to their low VOC content. However, drying water-based paint consumes much more energy because the water must be evaporated through a baking process. The large amounts of carbon dioxide produced during this process have long been an issue associated with water-based paint systems. Mazda has solved this problem with the introduction of this new, innovative coating technology.

The Aqua-tech technology includes the introduction of an improved paint shop air conditioning system and a new, highly efficient evaporation system that removes the water contained in the paint. In addition, Mazda has managed to consolidate the coating processes by developing highly functional top coat paints that exhibit the same brightness and resistance to chipping as conventional primer paint. As a result of these technical breakthroughs, Mazda has established a new vehicle coating technology that achieves extremely low VOC emissions without increasing CO₂ volume.

Going forward, Mazda will continue to advance new technologies based on its long-term vision for technology development, Sustainable Zoom-Zoom. With cutting-edge production facilities that include the paint shop with the smallest environmental impact in the world, Mazda is committed to producing vehicles that offer driving pleasure in harmony with environmental and safety features.

The Ujina Plant No.1, one of Mazda’s main vehicle manufacturing facilities, is located near Mazda’s headquarters in Hiroshima.

Courtesy: Mazda Motor Corporation

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Posted by Naresh Koshti on 15 June, 2009 11:52:01 AM IST #