Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of OEM Automotive Paint Shop Technologies

C. Jason Pierce, Josh Seeley and Rebecca Glaspie

Abstract

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a standardized methodology for assessing the environmental impacts and trade-offs for product systems. Eastman Chemical Company completed a “cradle-to-painted car” LCA study comparing the greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts and volatile organic compound (VOC) emission performance of five representative Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) automotive paint shop configurations. Paint shop data was provided by IHS. The configurations included: 1) three-coat two- bake (3C2B) waterborne (WB) basecoat with 1K clearcoat; 2) 3C2B WB basecoat with 2K clearcoat; 3) low solids solventborne basecoat with 1K clearcoat; 4) three-coat one-bake (3C1B) high solids solventborne basecoat with 1K clearcoat; and 5) 3C1B WB basecoat with 1K clearcoat. The goal of this study was to compare general classes of technologies to assist in understanding and decision making.
The study concludes that the 3C1B high solids solventborne process can achieve the lowest GHG impacts while meeting current European VOC emission limits of 35 g/m2. However, if OEM’s choose to not use VOC emission abatement in some regions of the world, then WB technologies are required in order to meet the 35 g/m2 limit. This study supports an attractive sustainability position for high solids solventborne technology and is recommended for consideration by policymakers and stakeholders.

Keywords Life cycle assessment, LCA, Paint shop, Automotive, Greenhouse gas, GHG