Batch-to-batch variation in domestic paints: Insights into the newly commercialized recycled paints

A few recent studies attempted to evaluate the differentiation of paints at a production batch level and reported results depending largely on the paint type. The discrimination from production batches is much more random than brands and/or models levels and subject to many unknowns, which suggests that a particular production batch can suddenly present a substantially different composition than the one produced right before or right after it. To add to this existing complexity, most of the paint companies now propose a range of recycled paints among their products. These recycled paints are composed of wastes collected by recycling plants, sorted by their color and binder type (i.e. latex, alkyds), and mixed together in large tanks to form the basis material for future formulations. Quality controls on these recycled batches are voluntarily less precise, and a higher variation is expected in esthetic and chemical properties of the paint. In this project, we collaborated with a North American paint producer that gave us access to its samples, paint formulations recipes, and a summary of the quality controls and corrections they performed on each production batches. The whole study was conducted blindfold and a final verification was made with the manufacturer to evaluate the accuracy of the results. The data set comprised two models of regular paints and two models of recycled paint. Five different production batches were collected per model for a total of 20 samples analyzed by Microscopy, Infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Pyrolysis GC/MS.