Jotun Paints has successfully been presenting its WaterFine range of products to major customers in Saudi Arabia for the past year. The company has been able to meet the specifications of leading companies and has gained approval for the use of those products in several areas.

Jotun is also proud of its Baltoflake range, which combines the strength of specially formulated polyesters with unique glassflake reinforcement. Baltoflake coatings offer exceptional protection of steel against abrasion and corrosion, even in the most hostile environments.

"Baltoflake solvent-free coatings create immense strength and protection against water, chemicals, solvents, abrasion or mechanical attack, outperforming traditional protection which uses zinc rich primers and epoxy coatings," a Jotun spokesman says. He adds that Baltoflake is among a few coatings that can be walked on only three hours after application and also that Baltoflake can be sprayed in a single coat to give a dry film thickness up to 1,500 microns on a vertical steel surface without sagging.

"Compared with an epoxy system in a maintenance situation, the Baltoflake coatings will show a saving of 25 per cent and up to 50 per cent when chosen at the new construction stage," he says.

Discussing the WaterFine range, the spokesman says: "Normally a standard three-coat system will need at least three days in the paint shop. Not so with WaterFine as the over coating interval, even at low temperature, is very short. Items blast cleaned are painted a full system in one day, and thereafter out of the paint shop. Painting cost and down-time are greatly reduced by as much as 70 per cent."

Samref, the Saudi Aramco Mobile Refinery in Yanbu, one of the largest in the Middle East, uses WaterFine for painting of external tanks, piping and structural steel.

Cristal - The National Titanium Dioxide Company - which has an international position as one of the leading manufacturers of titanium dioxide, uses WaterFine in the same areas as Samref and also for new constructions.

Another prominent company to use WaterFine is Sabtank (Yanbu), owned 10 per cent by Vopak and 90 per cent by Sabic and which operates terminal facilities from Sabic and Sabic affiliates. WaterFine has been specified for their maintenance works on piers and jetty piping and on general steel structures for the year 2003.

WaterFine has also been specified for Arabtank Terminals Ltd, which is an independent tank terminal, located in the Port of Yanbu. The company is active in the handling and storage of bulk liquid products, including bulk liquid chemicals and edible oils and fats. There are other customers who are in the process of approving the products.

In general the paint specification for WaterLine is based on pre-treatment such as blast cleaning to Sa 2 1/2. The most used paint system applied is WaterFine Primer and overcoating is done after one hour with WaterFine Topcoat. Normal application conditions would be R/H 65 per cent in the air, air temperature 35C and steel temperature 48C

"WaterFine products have been developed to combine corrosion protection that is equal to or better than high performance solvent-borne coatings with cost and environmental benefits," the spokesman says. "Environmental legislation on VOCs is coming into force in several parts of the world. This year the VOC directive for solvent reduction in the EU countries will be implemented. There is a demand for corrosion-resistant coatings with less environmental impact and which are long lasting, do not fade or peel and retain an excellent appearance. The WaterFine range meets these needs." The spokesman commented on several specialities of WaterFine.

On WaterFine Topcoat: "The high-gloss, one-component acrylic topcoat outshines other high-gloss finishes and just lasts and lasts. It combines the safe and easy-to-apply characteristics of water-borne technology with the tough corrosion-protection and good abrasion-resistant properties of a modified acrylic. It also gives good 'weatherability', flexibility, water resistance and UV-resistance. It meets the demands for constant colour stability, it has low dirt pick-up and will maintain an unprecedented level of non-yellowing performance. Excellent colour and gloss retention mean less re-coating is necessary giving savings in material and application costs."

On WaterFine Acrylic Primer: "A one-component acrylic primer, it is suitable for application to a wide range of different substrates including steel, galvanised steel and aluminium. It contains non-toxic pigments, has very good water resistance, dries quickly and gives excellent results in corrosion protection for mildly corrosive environments (corrosivity category C2-C3, ISO 12944) when used in combination with WaterFine Topcoat."

On WaterFine Primer - two-component epoxy primer: "Can be used on steel, galvanised steel and thermally sprayed zinc constructions above the waterline. It can be applied at high film thickness (up to 125 µm DFT per coat); it is fast drying and can be overcoated after two hours at 231/4C. No hazardous label is required and it is comparable with most water-borne and solvent-borne coatings."

On WaterFine Barrier: "The three-component organic zinc-rich epoxy primer provides long-term corrosion protection and is suitable for use in aggressive environments providing very good resistance to water, solvents and very good resistance to abrasion."

On WaterFine ZN Primer: "The two-component inorganic zinc silicate primer for long-term corrosion protection is especially suitable as a primer for aggressive environments where it will give excellent long-term corrosion protection. It is fast drying and can be overcoated with water-borne and solvent-borne epoxy, vinyl and acrylic coatings but not alkyd of either type."

On WaterFine Special: "A two-component intermediate paint, it is suitable for use as a tie coat between solvent-borne and water-borne coatings or as an intermediate coat for both water-borne and hybrid systems in areas where exposure is aggressive."

On Jotacote 5: "A specially designed two-component inorganic zinc silicate primer, it can be applied up to 200 µm DFT in a single coat, which is suitable as a one-coat system for interior tanks and superstructures. It is also good for extreme environments with excellent corrosion protection."