Sustainable, energy-efficient coating systems: an overview and Cefla’s role

Industrial coating has always been one of the processes with the greatest environmental impact within a production line: it is energy intensive, uses large quantities of lacquer and materials, and generates emissions that are released into the atmosphere. For this reason, making a coating plant more sustainable is now one of the most pressing and urgent challenges for industry players.

It is no longer just a matter of environmental responsibility. Reducing energy consumption, minimising product waste, and cutting emissions also means lowering operating costs, complying with increasingly stringent regulations and strengthening one’s competitiveness in the market. In other words, sustainability and efficiency go hand in hand.

In this article, we provide a general overview of what truly makes a coating system sustainable and energy-efficient, and explore how we at Cefla translate these principles into technologies and tangible solutions.

What makes a coating system sustainable

When we talk about the sustainability of a coating system, we are not referring to a single measure, but to the balance among multiple factors which, together, define the environmental and economic footprint of the process. For easier understanding, we can break them down into three main areas.

The first is energy consumption, i.e. the energy required to operate the system throughout all its processing stages. The second is the consumption of lacquer and materials: how much of the product is actually applied to the workpiece and how much, on the other hand, is lost or wasted during the cycle. The third is emissions, i.e. the substances released into the environment during application and drying, starting with solvents.

A plant can be considered truly sustainable when it manages to address all three of these factors simultaneously, without affecting either the quality of the finish or productivity. Sustainability does not mean reducing consumption at the expense of output or quality, as this merely shifts the problem elsewhere. It is in striking this balance that a plant’s true efficiency lies.

Why sustainability is now central to coating systems

Sustainability is neither a passing fad nor merely a matter of corporate image: it has become an unavoidable issue due to various factors that have accumulated in recent years.

The first is regulatory. Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) generated by solvents have long been subject to strict regulations at European level, with increasingly stringent limits; at the same time, energy efficiency directives are pushing companies to reduce consumption and report on their performance. For those who operate a coating facility, compliance is no longer optional.

Adding further weight to this issue is the role of industry within the overall environmental scenario. According to Italy for Climate, the industrial sector in Italy accounts for approximately 21% of final energy consumption. In this scenario, the most energy-intensive processes inevitably come under the spotlight.

In addition to regulatory requirements, there is also a very concrete economic reason. With high and volatile energy costs, any reduction in consumption directly translates into savings on operating costs: energy efficiency and sustainability thus become drivers of not just compliance but also competitiveness. 

Market demand brings us full circle, as clients and brands are increasingly demanding sustainable and traceable supply chains, turning the ability to produce efficiently into a genuine competitive advantage.

The environmental and energy impact of industrial coating

To understand where action is required, what works best is to closely observe a coating line and identify the points where most of the impact stems from.

The largest share of energy consumption almost always comes from drying and curing ovens. Bringing them up to temperature and maintaining that temperature requires a continuous and prolonged supply of energy, and this is where the largest portion of the entire plant’s energy consumption is concentrated. Added to this is the energy consumption of booths, workpiece handling systems and air treatment and recirculation systems.

A second issue concerns emissions. During application and subsequent drying, the solvents contained in lacquers tend to evaporate and be released into the atmosphere in the form of volatile organic compounds. This is where the process most directly intersects with environmental and health concerns.

Then there is the waste of material, which has a specific name: overspray. It is the portion of sprayed lacquer that does not reach the surface of the workpiece and is dispersed within the workshop, ending up in filters and exhaust systems. Every fraction of product lost in this way represents a cost as well as waste to be disposed of and a misused resource. 

Finally, some of the energy input into the process is not utilised but simply lost: this is the heat that escapes from the ovens and booths, particularly during downtime or during transitions between processing steps. Recovering even just a portion of this heat improves the efficiency of the entire system.

These four points determine, more than any others, how efficient and sustainable a coating system truly is.

VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds): what they are and how to reduce them

Among the impact sources described above, emissions deserve a separate discussion, because this is where one of the acronyms most commonly used in sustainable coating comes into play.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are carbon-based solvents that evaporate easily at room temperature. In traditional lacquers, they are found primarily in solvents and are released into the air during application and drying. The problem is twofold: on the one hand, they affect human health and are strictly regulated due to their environmental and health impact; on the other hand, they are governed by increasingly stringent European regulations that set precise limits.

Reducing them therefore helps achieve both environmental and regulatory compliance goals and can be done by essentially focussing on two factors.

The first factor is the lacquer formulation. Water-based coatings replace a large portion of organic solvents with water, significantly reducing emissions; powder coatings contain no solvents at all; while high-solids or low-emission technologies reduce solvent use, allowing for more efficient product application with a minimal amount of volatile substances.

The second factor is how lacquer is applied. The more efficiently a system deposits the product exactly where it’s needed, the less paint, and consequently solvent, is wasted. Increasing application efficiency and reducing overspray thus means cutting emissions and, at the same time, minimising waste: this is where VOC reduction is directly linked to the optimisation of the entire process.

Cefla’s key role: technologies and innovations for sustainable coating

The assets we’ve described so far – paint formulations, energy efficiency and the reduction of waste and emissions – are not merely theoretical exercises: some industry players have made them the core of their business. At Cefla, an international, multi-business industrial group, we have been developing technological solutions for various sectors for several decades, guided by a fundamental mission: to create value over time by combining performance and sustainability, productivity and quality, with a focus on both business and the environment.

Cefla Finishing is our dedicated business unit for finishing and coating technologies: stand-alone machines, integrated lines, industrial digital printers and software solutions designed for a wide range of sectors, from furniture to construction, from the automotive industry to durable goods, and a wide variety of materials, from wood to glass, from plastic to metal, all the way to cardboard and fibre-cement. In all these solutions, sustainability is not an afterthought but a pivotal part of the design brief. It is precisely with this approach that Cefla Finishing’s technologies tackle, one by one, the challenges of sustainable coating; let’s take a closer look at them.

Overspray reduction

In this area, Cefla Finishing focuses a significant portion of its solutions on a clear objective: to increase its transfer efficiency, that is, the percentage of lacquer that actually reaches the workpiece. More efficient application technologies, product recovery systems and patented methods for stabilising the airflow in the booth make it possible to minimise overspray in coating systems as much as possible, and, with it, waste, costs and emissions.

Cefla Finishing’s vacuum coating systems are the most emblematic example of this: a technique the company pioneered and offers for various applications, with a transfer efficiency that approaches 100%, effectively eliminating overspray. By applying a 100% solid, solvent-free UV coating in a single pass within a fully enclosed system, these systems ensure zero product waste, low energy consumption and a high-quality, long-lasting finish.

Efficient colour changeovers and less solvent

Every colour changeover requires machine downtime and cleaning operations that use solvent and disperse lacquer; making this process faster is therefore a direct driver of sustainability, and Cefla Finishing has developed specific solutions for this purpose.

The Easy FCS (Fast Colour Switch) system cuts colour changeover time from several minutes to less than 30 seconds, reducing the consumption of catalysed coating and cleaning solution by up to 75%. On spray robots, the TIMESKIP device enables “on-the-fly” colour changeovers: while one arm continues to coat, the other performs cleaning and colour changeover operations, eliminating downtime and minimising waste of solvent and product.

Energy efficiency and recovery

When it comes to energy, Cefla Finishing focuses on two complementary strategies: reducing consumption and recovering energy that would otherwise be wasted.

The PowerBack energy recovery system delivers energy savings of 15-20%. iFlow booths feature energy-saving devices that reduce energy consumption during downtime, as well as an exhaust air recirculation system that lowers heating energy consumption. Finally, Lineflow is designed to minimise compressed air consumption and, consequently, the line’s energy consumption.

Fewer harmful substances: more sustainable chemistry and polymerisation

Sustainable coating also means reducing the use of problematic substances in polymerisation processes, and Cefla Finishing has developed targeted solutions in this area.

Mercury-Free UV technology completely eliminates mercury from UV lamps, in compliance with relevant European regulations, while ensuring the performance of traditional end-of-line ovens without requiring changes to production cycles or coatings. 

The UV-I oven, which cures in an inert atmosphere, allows for a 40 to 70 percent reduction in the use of photoinitiators, thereby reducing dependence on these expensive and environmentally harmful substances. Finally, the Exydry family of excimer dryers achieves advanced matte finishes with reduced nitrogen consumption.

Software and digitalisation to monitor consumption

In order to be improved, efficiency has to be measured first: this is where Cefla Finishing’s software and IoT solutions come in, making a plant’s consumption data visible and manageable.

cCloner functions as a digital twin of the production line, simulating the process and estimating lacquer and energy consumption in advance. cTracker, when used in conjunction with cLink, monitors the entire production process from a single point and adjusts parameters in real time, feeding data into the company’s management system to optimise cycles and reduce consumption. Finally, cMaster allows machine and production line data to be accessed remotely, from any location.

Toward more efficient and sustainable industrial coating with Cefla Finishing

Making a coating plant sustainable is now a fundamental choice that can no longer be put off. In this respect, choosing the right partner makes all the difference: it means turning efficiency and environmental impact reduction goals into concrete, measurable results.

Cefla Finishing is the ideal partner for this challenge. Its technologies make sustainability a core design principle, from reducing overspray to energy recovery and digital consumption monitoring, turning efficiency and low environmental impact into a real competitive advantage for technology adopters.

If you want to make your coating system more efficient and sustainable, the first step is to consult with those who design these technologies every day: contact the experts at Cefla so we can work together to identify the solutions best suited to your production needs.